Through the Darkness
by Advent of Shadows
Summary: When Hades decided to visit a small village known for producing powerful mages, his only goal was to complete the Seven Kin of Purgatory. He had no idea that the young boy he found would one day become a living force of nature. Read on as Naruto rises from a dark past and becomes a legend.
1. Discovery

Summary: When Hades decided to visit a small village known for producing powerful mages, his only goal was to complete the Seven Kin of Purgatory. He had no idea that the young boy he found would one day become a living force of nature. Read on as Naruto rises from a dark past and becomes a legend.

Main Pairing: Naruto/Ultear

Warning: This story is rated M. I'll make sure to warn you ahead of time when a scene comes up that might offend sensitive readers.

Notes: This story is a Naruto/Fairy Tail fusion type fanfic. If you haven't read this kind before, then just know that the Naruto characters were born in Earthland instead of the Elemental Nations. I mention this here so that those that don't like this kind of story can stop here.

Oh, and this is not an "evil!Naruto" fic. This is a gray!Naruto fic.

* * *

**1. Discovery**

_-October 15, X776_

In the forests just west of the Fiore-Bosco border, there was a peculiar village with a population of close to fifty residents. It was simply called Konoha, and it was named such due to the fact that it was hidden in the middle of a forest.

Unlike most villages and towns where one out of ten individuals was capable of using magic, Konoha was known to produce very few people capable of becoming mages, but the ones that they did produce commonly turned out to be powerful mages. In fact, many of them achieved a position among the Ten Wizard Saints, or at least reached the level of one. It was something that made the mages from the village, rare as they were, desirable to legal guilds, dark guilds, and even the Magic Council.

It was out of a desire to find the uniquely powerful mages that only came from the village that a certain man was making his way there. He was a tall elderly man that had a long white beard and wore an eye patch over his right eye, along with an assortment of dark clothes and armor.

The man was once known by the name of Purehito, but he had gone by _Hades_ for the last several decades.

On sight, there were a very small number of individuals capable of recognizing him for who he was: the Master of Grimoire Heart, a dark guild that was only surpassed in strength by Tartaros.

It would not be long until Grimoire Heart could claim the title of the strongest dark guild though. Once the Seven Kin of Purgatory was complete, their power would be unrivaled. As it was now, they only had six members, and three of them were not even thirteen years old yet, which made it difficult for the group to be as powerful as he intended them to be.

His current objective was actually to find a seventh member to complete the group. If he could find a young mage from Konoha with the potential of his predecessors, then the Seven Kin of Purgatory would be able to live up to his expectations.

Closing his eyes momentarily, he stretched his sensory abilities outward.

A smile came to his face as he sensed a source of magic that exceeded his expectations. It was greater in power than at least two of the other members of the Kin, and it still had the raw, uncontrolled aura that the magic of untrained mages gave off.

He quickly made his way into the village and headed toward the source of magic that he had sensed.

Strangely, he did not pass any villagers as he headed for his destination, though the setting sun easily explained it.

His target was in the middle of the village in what appeared to be a small park for the kids of the village to play at, though no one was currently playing there.

There was only one individual in the park at that time. He was a short boy with spiky blond hair, bright blue eyes, and whisker-like marks on his cheeks. Dressed in clothes that were little better than rags, it was easy to see that he was not clean or well fed.

It was from that boy that he felt the raw, uncontrolled magic coming from.

Now that he was near the boy, he was able to more clearly since his magical power. It made him realize that he had underestimated what he would find. The boy's magical power exceeded that of at least four members of the Kin.

Zancrow, who had already been able to grasp the power of God Slayer Magic… Rustyrose, whose power was great enough to allow him to learn magic to bring anything he thought of into existence… Ultear, whose power was so great that it made her sick as a child… Kain, whose age exceeded all but one of the Kin… the boy's power exceeded any of theirs.

Hades knew right away that the boy was not simply someone he wanted to recruit. He was someone that he _needed_.

"Boy, are you alright," he asked as he stopped in front of the boy.

He opened his eyes and looked up at Hades in confusion.

"Why do you care?" he asked in disbelief. "No one cares about me. They hate me."

"What have you done that is worth hating?" Hades asked as he kneeled down.

"I haven't done anything," he vehemently denied.

"Then why are you sitting out here in rags instead of inside someone's home? Surely someone could take you in," Hades asked patiently. He could already see what he would have to do to get what he wanted.

"I used to live with the old man, but they kicked me out of his house after he died," Naruto said as he looked away. "They don't like me because I have magic."

Hades nodded thoughtfully. He knew that the leader of the village had been Hiruzen Sarutobi the last time he was there. Hiruzen had once been a famous mage before an incident with a powerful dark mage left him unable to use magic. That, added to the fact that none of the other mages that were born in the village stuck around after starting to learn magic, explained why the villagers disliked anyone that could use magic. Many of them likely believed that it was the duty of the mages that came from their village to protect them. When that did not happen, it was not hard to imagine that they grew resentful of anyone that could use magic.

"Have you thought about leaving?" Hades asked kindly. "Outside of this village, magic is not treated like this. One in ten people have the ability to become mages, and they are treated with respect outside this village."

"I don't have anywhere to go," he muttered as he looked down. "I'm an orphan, and I don't know anything about the outside world."

"I assume that you know about guilds," Hades said, looking at the boy intently. He was given a nod in response. "Then perhaps I should tell you something. I am the leader of a guild known as _Grimoire Heart_. I would like you to come with me and join my guild. If you do this, you will have a place to call home. You will always be well-fed, well-clothed, and have a place to sleep. That is not all either. Under my guidance, you will become a great mage. You will have access to such power that no one can refuse to acknowledge you. What do you say?"

The boy's eyes lit up with determination at that. "Are you serious?"

"Of course," Hades said with a smile. He knew what the boy's answer was already.

"When can we leave?" he asked in excitement.

"We can leave now," Hades said with a small laugh. "And for future reference, my name is Hades. Might I ask what your name is?"

"That's a cool name. Hades… it just sounds awesome," the boy said with a bright smile. He then grew sheepish. "Oh, and I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

"Thank you, Naruto," Hades said, smiling in amusement. "Now, we should be going. It'll be a short trip to our guild's headquarters. I believe you will like it a great deal."

Despite being the guild master of one of the strongest dark guilds on the continent, he always felt amused at seeing the reaction that children had upon seeing Grimoire Heart's airship. Ultear, Rustyrose, and Zancrow had all reacted similarly, and he expected the same of the excitable young boy before him.

"I can't wait," Naruto said with a big grin as he began to follow Hades out of the park and away from the village.

* * *

A few hours later, Hades and Naruto were nearing a large clearing in the forest about fifteen miles away from Konoha.

In the center of that clearing was Grimoire Heart's massive airship. Its size was so great that if it had been any taller, the trees would not have hidden it.

Naruto was enthralled the moment that he saw the airship. As expected, he was unable to stay quiet for long either.

"That's your guild headquarters? That's so awesome! I can't wait to go inside it! Does it fly? How fast does it go? Do you have cannons or anything? Man, this is so awesome!" Naruto said, literally bouncing in place.

Hades did not bother reprimanding the boy for getting so hyperactive. Instead, he chuckled, having expected such a reaction. "Yes, this is the headquarters of Grimoire Heart. Yes, it does fly, it is fast enough to cross an entire country in a day, and it only has one cannon, but it comes out the front of it and is strong enough to easily destroy a large building. Come with me, and I will show you around as soon as we get into the air."

In just a matter of moments, Hades led him to the entrance of the airship.

Once they were inside, they were met by a man that appeared to be a bipedal goat.

"Naruto, this is Caprico," Hades introduced immediately. "Caprico, this is Naruto, our newest member. Would you see about getting us into the air and then gather the other Kin in the hull. Make sure that they are there in about an hour so that they can meet Naruto."

"Of course, Master Hades," the goat-man known as Caprico said as he headed away from there.

"That was a mage?" Naruto asked once Caprico was out of sight.

"Yes, he is one of the strongest members of Grimoire Heart," Hades said as he began to lead him away from there. "In Grimoire Heart, you will find that there are ten mages that are above the rest. I am the Master of Grimoire Heart, as I explained earlier. Then there's the Deputy Commander of Grimoire Heart, Bluenote Stinger. He is not present right now, but I am the only one in the guild that is stronger than he is. And finally, there are the Seven Kin of Purgatory. I will introduce you to them after I show you around and you get cleaned up. They will be the cornerstone of Grimoire Heart's power in a few years, and you will be one of them."

Naruto's eyes went wide at that prospect.

"Me? I'm going to be one of those guys?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes, you will. You are perhaps the youngest of them all, but you have the potential to one day surpass them all," Hades said with a brief smile.

"What exactly are the Seven Kin?" Naruto asked, unsure how to react to such a compliment. "Why are they called that?"

"Guilds are like families, in a sense," Hades said without even glancing at the young boy. "As the Seven Kin of Purgatory is a team of seven mages that are perhaps closer to each other than any others in the guild, they are _the Seven Kin_. The _Purgatory_ part of the name is likely what confuses you the most though, is it not?" He looked at Naruto just long enough to receive a nod in answer before speaking again. "The name comes from the kind of magic they use. They all use _Lost Magic_. That is the term given to magic that is extremely rare and has nearly been erased from the annals of history due to its sheer power. But even more than that, of all the magic in the world, Lost Magic is the closest there is to _the One Magic_, the original magic that all other magic came from. I will tell you more about it another day, but needless to say, Lost Magic is very powerful."

"And you're going to teach me to use a Lost Magic?" Naruto asked, curiously. It was easy to see that he was starting to get excited by the prospect.

"Yes, I will teach you a type of Lost Magic," Hades answered. "But that's a subject for later. For now, pay attention to your surroundings so that you don't get lost."

Naruto began to nod in understanding, but his eyes suddenly went wide as he felt the ground move below him.

"We are beginning to take flight. You'll get used to it," Hades said. "Now, come with me so that I can show you around. I will be showing you to the room you'll be staying in once we are done so that you can take a shower and change into some spare clothes that we have on hand. You would not want to make a bad first impression on your new comrades, after all."

"Right," Naruto said with a faint blush.

* * *

A little over an hour after arriving at the airship, Hades led a clean Naruto into a large hall within the hull.

Upon arriving, the newest recruit of Grimoire Heart noted that it was a large area that was rather plain with a large globe-like object at one end. Most of his attention was on six individuals lined up in the middle of the hall though.

The goat-man that they met at the entrance to the airship, Caprico, was on the far left of the line-up.

To his right, there was a man with chalk white-colored skin and shaggy black hair. The only word that came to mind when looking at him was _huge_. He was both tall and extremely overweight, though he was not without visible muscles.

To his right, there was a tall muscular man with tanned skin and dark brown hair that stuck out all around him. He appeared to be around eighteen years old.

To his right, there was a young girl with dark purple that fell to her shoulder blades and brown eyes. She was a cute girl, though Naruto would not have admitted to thinking that. She appeared to be around twelve years old.

To her right, there was a tall, lanky boy that wore sunglasses and had silver hair that stuck straight up. Naruto's first impression of the boy was that he was stuck up. He appeared to be around eleven years old.

And the boy on the other end of the line-up had spiky blond hair that fell to his shoulders and had red eyes that appeared to have concentric circles in them. He appeared to be the same age as Naruto.

"It looks like we are just on time," Hades said as he stepped in front of the six individuals and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Everyone, I would like to introduce you to Naruto Uzumaki. He is to be the final member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory," Hades said. The reactions of the six individual were mixes, but most of them were positive. Only Caprico and the tan-skinned teenage appeared indifferent, though they were both looking at him with analytical eyes. "Naruto, I'd like to introduce you to Caprico, Kain, Azuma, Ultear, Rustyrose, and Zancrow, the other members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory."

"It's nice to meet you guys," Naruto said with a bright smile, earning a few surprised looks, along with a couple of incredulous ones.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Naruto," Ultear said politely. "Welcome to Grimoire Heart."

"Thanks," Naruto said, looking down. He definitely was not used to being greeted politely yet.

"What kind of magic are you going to teach him, Master?" Zancrow asked suddenly, looking between the new recruit and Hades.

"It is ironic that you would ask that, Zancrow," Hades said, with a look of amusement in his eyes. "It is related to your magic, after all."

Zancrow's eyes went wide at that, and a big grin showed on his face.

Rustyrose, Azuma, and Caprico just looked indifferent, while Ultear and Kain looked surprised.

"What kind of magic is it?" Naruto asked with a slight frown. He was slightly annoyed that someone else knew what kind of magic he would be learning before he was told.

"The greatest magic of all," Zancrow said with a laugh that sounded disturbing coming from a ten year old. "I use magic that can kill gods… God Slayer Magic."

"God Slayer Magic?" Naruto asked in surprise. Just the name sounded awesome, especially to his ten year old mind.

"Yes, I will be teaching you God Slayer Magic," Hades confirmed. "It won't be the same kind as Zancrow's, but that's a subject for later. For now, you should get to know some of your new comrades, particularly the ones around your own age. I will be retiring for the night though. Do not stay up too late. I will begin to teach you magic tomorrow."

"Sure thing," Naruto said with a small smile. He was already feeling glad that he had decided to go with Hades.

Looking back years later, Naruto would never be able to find it in him to regret his choice on that day.

* * *

Author's Note: As typical with every first chapter I write, I want to make it clear that I haven't abandoned anything by adding something new. This is just an idea I've always wanted to write but have never gotten around to it. I'll probably focus my time between this and Orange Wizard for now. I'm still working through some issues with Legend of the Archmage, so don't expect an update on that for a while.

And yes, this idea was inspired by DeathGodSlayer's Demon Lacrima. It is not the same type of story though. For example I won't be covering nearly as much of his time in Grimoire Heart as he does.

Anyways, thanks for reading, and just as a heads-up, there's a rather large time-skip between this chapter and the next, so don't be surprised by how he changes between them.


	2. Six Years Later

**2. Six Years Later**

_-July 15, X782_

In the town of Magnolia, a man in his mid-fifties with long white hair could be seen making his way down the street last in the afternoon.

"That didn't take long," he muttered as he stopped in front of a large building. It was easily the loudest and most recognizable place in all of Magnolia, the Fairy Tail guild hall.

He opened the doors and walked in, giving a wave to a few of the mages that he recognized. It had been several years since he had last stopped by, so he did not even recognize most of the mages there. Members of the older generations, like Macao and Wakaba, were easy enough to spot though.

His eyes were mainly focused on the small elderly man that was sitting on the bar across the room from the door.

"Jiraiya, what brings you here?" Makarov asked with a wave. "It's been a while."

"Indeed, it has," Jiraiya said as he took a seat. "Can't a retired friend visit once in a while?"

Makarov just stared at him for a moment, clearly no believing that he was just there to visit. He finally just shook his head though. "You're always welcome to visit, old friend."

They could both hear a few people starting to talk already.

"Is that Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Three Mages?"

"I heard that he was one of the Ten Wizard Saints like the Master is, but he gave up the position."

"I've heard of him, but I had no idea he was once a Fairy Tail mage."

"That's enough," Makarov said loudly. "It's not very nice to talk about someone like they're not even here."

"It's okay, Makarov," Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "They're just curious. It's not every day that they get to see the _Gallant_ Jiraiya, after all."

"Jiraiya, would you care to come up to the second floor with me?" Makarov suddenly asked. "I'd like to introduce you to our two newest S-class mages."

"Sure," Jiraiya said with a nod.

Makarov immediately lead Jiraiya up to the second floor, where two seventeen year old girls could be seen. They looked as though they were having a stare down with the S-class job request board, where there was only a single request posted.

"I've obscured any noise coming from up here with Wind Magic," Makarov said as they neared the pair of girls.

"Good, I was worried that I would have to wait until after everyone left to talk to you about this," Jiraiya said.

"Master?" asked a red-haired teen that was wearing armor and a skirt.

"Who's this?" asked a scantily clad white-haired teen.

"Girls, this is Jiraiya. You may have heard of him as one of the Legendary Three Mages, which is widely regarded as the strongest team of any legal guild. He was once a member of Fairy Tail and one of the Ten Wizard Saints before he retired to write," Makarov said.

The red haired teen's eyes widened and a blush appeared on her cheeks. Jiraiya assumed that she had read his work before.

"Jiraiya, these are Erza Scarlet and Mirajane Strauss. You may have heard of them as _Titania _Erza and _Demon_ Mira. They are currently the only two S-class mages in town," Makarov said as he looked at his friend.

"They will do," Jiraiya said with a nod.

"What's going on?" Mirajane asked with a frown.

"To put it simply, I would like you two to do a job for me," Jiraiya stated. "It will be dangerous, so I'd prefer that I have two S-class mages with me in case things are more dangerous than anticipated."

"I'm in," Mirajane said with a shrug. "I don't know what's going on, but it sounds like my type of job."

"Same here," Erza said, looking at her rival.

"Meet me at the train station tomorrow morning then," Jiraiya said. "You should be back home within a week. You are just back-up so that I can confront someone that may have a powerful ally or two with him."

"I'll be there," Mirajane said, feeling a bit happier at her decision to accept.

"As will I," Erza said.

Both girls made their way out of there at that point, while Makarov simply took a seat at one of the tables and gestured to the chair across from him.

"I need to know what the situation is," Makarov said sternly.

"Do you remember Minato, my apprentice?" Jiraiya asked.

"Of course," Makarov answered in surprise. "He was one of the Ten Wizard Saints before he died fighting dark mages. I am told that no one knows who killed him, but the amount of blood that was present made it clear that at least a dozen of them died in the attempt. He was also one of the only practitioners of _Toad_ and only user of the space-time magic, Hiraishin. Why do you bring him up?"

"Minato had a son," Jiraiya said with a sigh. "His name was Naruto, and Minato made him my godson because of how close I was to him and his wife. He used Hiraishin to transport Naruto to me right after he was attacked. He knew that he would not survive it from what I can tell. I believe that his wife was killed the moment that they were attacked, which is the only reason I can think of that he would have kept fighting instead of using Hiraishin to flee."

"You're planning to confront your godson then?" Makarov asked in confusion.

"I made a stupid mistake," Jiraiya admitted. "I wasn't there for Naruto growing up. I asked my old teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, to watch over him for me until he was twelve, and then I was going to take him away from the village and train him as my new apprentice. I did not forget he was alive or anything. I visited Konoha once a year on his birthday and looked in on him from afar. But I was busy on his tenth birthday though, and I did not get there until December of that year. When I arrived, I learned of Master Sarutobi's death earlier in the year. It seems that Naruto ran away sometime around his birthday. I can't blame him for running away either. After Master Sarutobi's death, he was homeless and had no one to turn to."

"You've found him though," Makarov said. He had nothing to say on his old friend's actions. It was foolish of him to do things as he did, but there was no use in chastising him after he had clearly already done so himself.

"I've heard rumors of a boy lately. Naruto looked like his father, but his eyes and face had the same shape as his mother did. He also had these whisker-like marks on his cheeks. The boy I've heard rumors of fits the description perfectly, so I'm about ninety-nine percent sure I've found him," Jiraiya said with a smile, but it faded as he continued. "The only issue is that I heard of him from a few dark mages. Apparently, he has single handedly destroyed several dark guilds. But… the dark guilds he has destroyed were guilds that were subordinate to Grimoire Heart until they decided that they had no intention of serving another guild. The boy bore the mark of Grimoire Heart on his clothes."

"Be careful," Makarov said with a sigh. "Bring Erza and Mira back after this in one piece. If you bring them into a conflict with Grimoire Heart and anything happens to them, I do not know if I can forgive you, old friends or not."

"They will be fine. They might get a little scratched up or bruised, but I will protect them if it comes to that," Jiraiya promised.

"Very well then," Makarov said with a smile. "When's the next book coming out?"

Naturally, Jiraiya grinned as he began to talk about his favorite subject.

* * *

Above Eastern Fiore in Grimoire Heart's airship, Naruto and Zancrow were standing across from each other in the hall where they first met six years and nine months ago. The hall was primarily used as the training grounds of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, but it had not been used as much easily. The reason behind that was the same reason that they appeared to have reached a stalemate.

"Damn it! We need Ultear to get back here so we can go all out!" Zancrow yelled in annoyance.

"It's too bad she's trying to infiltrate the Council," Naruto agreed with a nod. They had been forbidden to cause any damage to the airship itself due to Ultear not being around. As such, they could not use too much of their power when training together since it was rather destructive. The last time that two of them had fought using their God Slayer Magic, Ultear had been the only reason that they had stayed airborne.

"I know what we can do!" Zancrow said with a gleeful look. "It's boring as hell trying to weaken our attacks, and we can't fight with too much of our powers. So why don't we just hand-to-hand combat?"

As he said that, black flames covered his fists.

"Sure, I'm up for it," Naruto said with a grin as black wind formed around each of his fists.

The two suddenly leapt forward and threw a single punch at each other.

"Flame God's Firing Hammer," Zancrow exclaimed.

"Sky God's Swift Fist," Naruto said.

The two fists met with a small explosion of black wind and fire.

"Sky God's Gale Kick," Naruto said as he pulled back his fist, jumped into the air, and delivered a spinning kick to Zancrow's face with his right foot covered in black wind.

"Not the face, you bastard!" Zancrow yelled as he was sent flying a dozen yards off to the side. He easily spun around mid-air and landed on his feet though.

"If I kick you in the face hard enough, maybe you'll actually attract girls," Naruto commented, suppressing a smile.

"I'm going to kill you!" Zancrow exclaimed as he began to inhale a deep breath.

In that instant, Naruto already knew what he was going to do and began to move.

"Flame God's B-"

"Sky God's Lariat," Naruto whispered as he cut Zancrow off from speaking with an arm to his throat. Due to the fact that he covered his arm in black wind first, it did not simply stop Zancrow from speaking. It also sent him flying back and slamming into the wall several dozen yards behind him.

"Did he try to use a powerful attack again?"

Hearing the voice, Naruto looked to the entrance of the hall and saw an eleven year old girl with short pink hair and green eyes. She reminded him of a girl from Konoha because of the hair and eye color, but she was nothing like her.

The girl's name was Meredy, and she was considered by many to be the unofficial eighth member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. As it was, she was already fairly talented with a Lost Magic, having joined Grimoire Heart two years ago. If any of the Kin were to lose their lives, she would be the one to take their place. Personally, Naruto thought that she could probably take Kain's place in the group in a couple of years, as weak as he was.

"You know how Zancrow is," Naruto said with a chuckle. "Do you need something?"

"Yeah, Master Hades asked me to tell you that he needs to see you and Zancrow as soon as possible. I think it's about the Balam Alliance," Meredy explained.

"Zancrow, we need to go see Master Hades," Naruto called out.

"Fine, let's go," Zancrow said, having finally regained his breath. He hated when Naruto uses that attack on him.

"Meredy, be careful if you decide to train here today. You're technically only allowed to train here when you have one of us here. Caprico and Azuma wouldn't be very happy to find you here without us," Naruto said, looking at the young girl.

"I don't intend to train here today. I just finished training with Master Hades," Meredy said, though she looked happy that he showed concern for her nonetheless.

"Good, I look forward to fighting you one day," Naruto said with a grin, making her pale.

"Naruto, don't go picking on kids," Zancrow mock scolded. "Let's hurry up before Master Hades gets impatient."

"Right," Naruto said with a chuckle. "In any case, you can go a little ahead of me. That way, if he is impatient, you'll be the one to get his ire."

"Bastard," Zancrow muttered.

Meredy could be heard laughing as the two made their way to see Hades.

* * *

Naruto and Zancrow entered the throne room of the airship a short time later.

Of all the parts of the airship, that was his favorite. It was a mostly bare hall with obelisk-like spikes on either side leading up to a throne that looked to be made from massive horns. But what he liked most about the throne room was the glass dome that sat atop it. It was the only place on the airship that offered a great view of the surroundings, which was why it was chosen as the throne room.

Upon arriving, they saw that Hades was sitting in his throne with Caprico standing off to the side.

"Good, you're here," Hades said once they reached him.

"Of course, Master," Naruto said with a slight bow. Zancrow merely nodded, though that was expected.

"Tomorrow evening, I must meet with Brain," Hades said as he looked between the three members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. "It would seem that he wishes to speak with me about Ouroboros."

"Who cares about those cowards?" Zancrow scoffed. "They're too chicken to even meet with us about the Balam Alliance, so how tough can they be?"

"Don't underestimate them," Naruto said, shaking his head. "Ouroboros is the guild that is led by Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Three Mages. He's definitely not weak. He probably just didn't want us to kick his mages' asses like we did to Oracion Seis when Master Hades met with Brain."

Zancrow snorted at the memory. He had taken down their Ace, Midnight, rather easily. As it turned out, Flame God's Supper and a punch was all it took. Naruto had taken down Cobra, Ultear had taken down Hoteye, Caprico had taken down Racer, Rustyrose had taken down Angel, and the other two members had just sat out, not caring to get involved. That was probably for the best given that Azuma's magic was actually quite destructive.

"Naruto is correct," Hades said with a nod. "You showed our dominance to Oracion Seis, which is one reason that they willingly hand us over information, even when we don't ask for it. But you need not concern yourself with the topic at hand. Brain has requested that we meet at Ghoul Spirit's headquarters outside of Shirotsume. He has also requested I bring no more than three of you as guards. We will do the same with Oracion Seis."

Naruto snorted at that, causing Caprico to give him a stern look.

"He's not aware that you could handle defeat all six members of Oracion Seis and the entire Ghoul Spirit by yourself, is he?" Naruto asked, having a hard time containing his laughter. Zancrow had no qualms and was audibly laughing. "You don't need any guards ever."

"That is correct," Hades said with a look of amusement. "But if anyone tries to disrupt the meeting, I would be glad to have you three nearby."

"We will be there," Caprico said with a bow.

"Yeah, I just hope Angel isn't there," Naruto said with a shudder.

"Why? Are you afraid she's going to molest you or something?" Zancrow asked with a snicker.

Naruto glared at his friend at that. That was not very funny in his opinion. The Celestial Spirit Mage had a tendency to flirt with him and make insinuations every time she saw him. She was attractive enough, he supposed, but she was also a sadistic bitch. That was how he preferred to describe her, at least.

"Brain has informed me that he is bringing Angel, Cobra, and Racer," Hades said, suppressing a smile when Naruto acted overdramatic.

Naruto easily brought light into any situation, even when it came to a meeting between two of the strongest dark guilds in the land.

"You three are dismissed for now," Hades said after a few moments.

"Yes sir," Caprico said as he turned and made his way out of the throne room.

"Good night, Master Hades," Naruto said as he did the same.

"Yeah, same here, Master Hades," Zancrow said with a wave as he followed after Naruto.

As Naruto made his way to his quarters, he could not help but feel as though something was going to happen on the upcoming job that would change everything. Try as he might, he simply could not understand why he was getting the feeling either.

In the end, he decided to simply ignore it for now.

* * *

Author's Note: I appreciate all the input I was given on Naruto's God Slayer Magic. In the end, I went with Sky God Slayer Magic. To everyone that is concerned because there is already a Sky God Slayer... well, if Orga turns out to be a Lightning or Thunder God Slayer, I'd have to deal with the same issue, but I'd likely also have to deal with a different naming convention, seeing as each form of God Slayer Magic uses a different mythology. From what we've seen, Flame God Slayer Magic uses Japanese Mythology (Kagutsuchi) and Sky God Slayer Magic uses Greek Mythology (Boreas). Also, with Sky God Slayer magic, he at least has the ability to heal his injuries, much like he naturally does with Kurama's chakra in the manga.

Anyways, next chapter, you'll get to see Naruto's first real fight in the story, along with a Zancrow fight. Speaking of Zancrow, I hope you guys like how I've portrayed him so far. He isn't completely in-character, but that's because he's had Naruto around him for the last six years. If meeting Naruto twice changed Zabuza in canon, then Zancrow changing a little isn't that unrealistic.

Thanks for reading and reviewing. I'm glad everyone's enjoying the story so far, and I hope you all continue to feel that way.


	3. Meeting

**3. Meeting**

_-July 16, X782_

"So this guy you want to meet… he'll be in Shirotsume?" Mirajane asked as she sat next to Erza in a wagon. While they would not normally have sat next to each other, Mira had no intention of sitting next to a self proclaimed _super pervert_ or forcing her rival to do so. Girls had to stick together, after all.

"Yes, one of my toads spotted the Grimoire Heart airship landing to the northwest of Shirotsume. Three individuals departed. One of them was likely the Master, another was Naruto, and the final one looked a little like him with long spiky blond hair," Jiraiya explained.

"Can you describe him to us so that we can recognize him on sight?" Erza asked.

"Naruto has spiky blond hair, blue eyes, and whisker-like birthmarks on his cheeks. Also, he's almost sixteen years old, is a little short, has the build of what you'd expect from a Dragon Slayer, has light skin, and wears mostly black. My toad couldn't get too close, but it saw that he wore black boots, black pants, a sleeveless black shirt with the Grimoire Heart mark on the front of it, black wrist bands, and a black hooded cloak. He's distinctive enough looking that you'll recognize him on sight," Jiraiya explained.

"He sounds recognizable," Erza agreed.

"How can you spy on something with toads?" Mira asked with a frown.

"Toad is a magic that I am rather famous for," Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "It allows me to take a portion of my magical power and create a toad with it. It is not alive in any sense of the word, but they can do anything a real toad could do. I regularly employ horse sized toads in combat, but they can also be used to spy, as you've realized. When my toads run out of magical power or their purpose has been fulfilled, they dispel. At that time, any information that they obtained is transferred to me."

"That sounds useful," Mira remarked. "I've heard of a few types of magic that are similar."

"Yes, I suppose you have," Jiraiya said with a nod. "But that's enough for now. We're here."

As if on cue, the wagon came to a stop.

"Be warned," Jiraiya said seriously. "We must not meet the Master of Grimoire Heart. I have reason to believe that Naruto is stronger than either of you, and his comrade is likely of similar strength. If you fought one of them on your own, you would be defeated before my fight could end one way or the other."

"Right," Erza and Mira said in unison.

"Let's go," Jiraiya said, exiting the wagon, followed shortly by the two S-class mages.

He swallowed nervously as he felt intense magical power coming from a spot just outside of town. It was comparable to what he felt when he arrived at Fairy Tail the previous day.

He only truly began to understand the power that Grimoire Heart wielded at that point.

* * *

In the entrance hall of Ghoul Spirit's headquarters, six individuals were doing their best to wait patiently while Hades met with Brain. Naruto was sitting on the floor against one wall with Angel at his side. Zancrow was sitting a few dozen yards away, occasionally looking at his friend and snickering. Cobra and Racer were sitting against the opposite wall, having a quiet conversation. And Caprico was at the other end of the hall, not having any desire to interact with the others.

"You know, Naruto, there are other things we could do while we wait," Angel said with a sultry smile.

Naruto sighed in exasperation, having heard such things from her numerous times before, though that was perhaps the second most blatant attempt that she had made.

"Angel, contrary to popular belief, I do not hate you," Naruto said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "But I have no intention of doing that with you. You are probably only constantly trying to get me to do that so you don't have to worry about the possibility of having to fight me. But you're forgetting something. Even if you did manage to seduce me, it would just be physical. My loyalty is to Grimoire Heart, anyways. Master Hades saved me, Zancrow is my best friend, and I am very close to Ultear and Meredy. Just thinking a girl looks nice isn't going to make me abandon all of that. And to be honest, I'm not into sadistic women that are cruel to their comrades, especially when those comrades are the only reason you can fight."

Everyone present knew that he was specifically referring to her spirits at the last part.

"Whatever," Angel said with a huff. "You probably just have a thing for that Ultear girl. Or maybe you're into little girls like that Meredy girl."

"Angel, I do not appreciate it when you say stuff like that about my friends," Naruto said with narrowed eyes. "Don't forget that I am a God Slayer. A pitiful angel would not last a moment before my power."

"Naruto, that is enough," Caprico said. "The same goes for you, Angel of Oracion Seis. Do not test Naruto, or you will discover first hand why only Master Hades can control him."

Angel rose to her feet and walked over to her comrades at that, having no desire to start a fight, especially when she had seen Naruto's power first hand already.

Naruto quickly rose to his feet as well, but his eyes were focused on the doors. He immediately walked over and opened them.

"There's a situation," he said, glancing back at Caprico.

"Naruto, what is it?" Caprico asked with a frown.

"Three mages are headed this way from Shirotsume. I just sensed them. I can't be sure how strong they are, but I think Zancrow and I can handle them," Naruto answered.

"If I sense that either of you are defeated, I come to your assistance," Caprico said.

"That won't happen," Naruto said. He then glanced at Zancrow. "Come on. We get to have a little fun."

"I'm looking forward to that," Zancrow said with a giddy laugh.

Naruto immediately dashed through the open doors with his fellow God Slayer following after him.

It only took a few minutes of running to reach their target.

They came to a stop in front of three mages. Naruto instantly recognized all three of the mages, causing him to mentally curse. He had not expected Erza Scarlet, Mirajane Strauss, or Jiraiya of the Legendary Three Mages to be the ones.

It seemed that he had not realized that one of them was suppressing their magical power.

"That's him, eh?" Mirajane said as she looked at Naruto.

"Yeah," Jiraiya said with a frown.

"Zancrow, these girls are _Titania_ Erza and _Demon_ Mira. The old dude is Jiraiya, Super Pervert Extraordinaire and self-proclaimed Toad Sage," Naruto said.

"I'm honored," Mirajane said with a smirk.

"You are well informed," Erza noted.

"You put self-proclaimed in front of _Toad Sage_ instead of _Super Pervert Extraordinaire_," Jiraiya grumbled.

"So we're fucked?" Zancrow asked for clarification. "The little girls will be child's play, but I watched Bluenote kick your ass after you called him _old fart_. If this guy's on the same level as him, there's no way we can beat him, even together."

"Did you just call us _child's play_?" Mirajane asked in a dangerous tone. "I'm going to destroy you."

"Zancrow, take care of the girls. I will fight Jiraiya on my own," Naruto said with his eyes locked onto the powerful mage.

"Be careful," Zancrow said seriously. "You're a juggernaut, but he will destroy you if he goes all out."

"And the moment he goes all out, Master Hades will sense him," Naruto said as he clapped his hands together. "Just trust me. I know what I'm doing." He then thrust his hands towards Jiraiya. "Wind Blast."

A twister suddenly shot from his hands towards Jiraiya.

"Rock Wall," Jiraiya said without even blinking. A slab of rock shot up from the ground in front of him, blocking it. The attack still shattered the slab of rock though.

"Impressive," Jiraiya noted. His eyes widened when he saw that Naruto was no longer standing there.

"Don't think I'm just some weakling like you'll find in legal guilds," Naruto said from behind Jiraiya, earning shocked looks from Erza and Mirajane. "I am the second strongest member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory."

Jiraiya grimaced at that news, though not for the reason that Naruto though.

"The Seven Kin of Purgatory?" Erza asked.

"You're telling me that you brought a couple of pathetic girls that don't even know of the strongest team in any guild, legal or dark?" Zancrow asked, astounded.

"They are a team of seven mages belonging to Grimoire Heart. It is rumored that each one wields Lost Magic and are all at least around your level," Jiraiya answered.

"That's correct," Naruto said with a smile. "But saying that we are at her level isn't smart. Only one of us is that weak. If you recall, I told him that he could handle the two girls, and I have no doubt that he'll win."

"You should not underestimate your opponents," Jiraiya said as he spun around and threw a punch at Naruto, who turned into wind right before it struck.

"That's a good lesson," Naruto said as he reformed. "But we should take this elsewhere. I don't think we want to have to deal with friendly fire, after all."

"I never thought I'd agree with a dark mage," Jiraiya noted. "Erza, Mira, be careful."

And with that, Jiraiya and Naruto both took off through the forest to get some distance so that they could fight.

"I'm glad that they are gone. This means I can actually start to fight now," Zancrow said with a grin. "Show me the power of Titania Erza and Demon Mira, and I'll show you the power that can kill gods."

"Power that can kill gods?" Erza asked with a frown.

"Don't ask stupid questions, Erza," Mirajane said with narrowed eyes. "Let's just start. Take Over: Satan Soul!" Immediately, her magical power skyrocketed as she began to transform

Though the massive amount of magical power surprised Zancrow, he could not stop from grinning, especially after he saw her new form. He was not exactly intimidated by a scantily-clad demon with a tail and white hair that stood up, after all.

"You're hot," he said, grinning even bigger when he saw her become angry.

She sped towards him and threw a punch at him.

"But I'm hotter," Zancrow said as he caught her fist in his left hand. Black flames danced upon the skin of his hand.

"Shit," Mirajane cursed as she felt the intense heat of the black flames. If she did not break free of his grip, she would be in trouble.

Zancrow found himself flying through the air as a foot smashed into the side of his head suddenly.

Looking to see what had happened, he saw that Erza had changed into a new armor. It was red, gold, and black in color, and her hair was tied in pigtails.

"Flame Empress Armor," Mirajane noted with a hint of relief in her voice.

"Yes, it reduces the damage of all fire-based attacks by fifty percent," Erza said. "It would appear that he is similar to a Dragon Slayer based upon how he produced those flames."

"Don't compare me to that trash!" Zancrow yelled angrily. "I'm not some pathetic Dragon Slayer. I'm a God Slayer!"

"Have you heard of God Slayer Magic before?" Mirajane asked with a frown.

"No, I haven't," Erza answered.

"In that case, we'll need to be careful," Mirajane said as she began to charge a sphere of dark energy between her hands.

"Hurry up, or I'm just going to burn you to ash," Zancrow complained.

"Demon Blast," Mirajane said as she suddenly released a powerful beam of Darkness Magic at the God Slayer.

"Flame God's Bellow," Zancrow said as he expelled a large black fireball at the two girls.

"I've got this," Mirajane said as she formed a spiraling sphere of black and purple energy between her hands. She released it in a blast as she intoned, "Soul Extinction"

The powerful blast met Zancrow's Flame God's Bellow and canceled it out using all of its power.

"Impressive," Zancrow admitted, shaking his head. "You're stronger than I thought, but it won't be enough."

"That's what you think," Mirajane said as she sprung into action. Erza, who had used Requip to pull out a spear that frequently emitted lightning, was following closely behind her.

* * *

"So, what's your real purpose here," Naruto asked as he stood across from Jiraiya in a clearing several hundred yards away from the others. "Demon Mira made it clear that you were looking for me. I want to know why."

"Did Master Sarutobi tell you about your parents?" Jiraiya asked suddenly.

Naruto's eyes widened momentarily at the question, but he regained control quickly enough. "I forgot that you were from Konoha," he said. "He disliked speaking of magic. I don't think he ever fully got over having his magic taken away. He did speak of his three students once though. But to answer your question, he never told me anything of my parents. I assumed that they were just a couple drunks or saw no reason to keep me around. I don't really care, to be honest."

"Your parents were Minato and Kushina Namikaze. Your bare the same last name as your mother had before she married," Jiraiya said. "They did not abandon you. They died at the hands of dark mages like the ones that you serve."

Naruto frowned at those words, but he did not address them. "If I am truly the son of one of the Ten Wizard Saints, then why did I grow up in that hell hole?"

"The reason is because I put you there," Jiraiya said with a grimace. "Your father was my student, and I was named your godfather. After he died, I could not watch over you while also keeping an eye on my old teammate, Orochimaru. I knew that he posed a great threat, and I felt that it was my job to try to stop him. I actually planned to leave you with Master Sarutobi until you were twelve. Then, you'd be old enough to travel with me without there being too much risk to your life. Instead, I found out that he died when you were nine and you ran away not long after your tenth birthday."

"I did not run away," Naruto interrupted with anger in his eyes. "Master Hades came to Konoha and found my. I was cold, starving, and dirty, trying to fall asleep in the park because I was kicked out of the old man's home after he died. He saved me from that wretched place. That is why I serve him. He gave me purpose when I had none. He gave me power when I was weak. And he gave me family when my own abandoned me, _godfather_."

"He is just using you. I have seen men like your Hades before. They manipulate people into willingly serving them to commit acts of great evil. How many lives have you taken for him? Has he asked you to torture anyone for him?"

"The only lives I have ever taken were those that tried to kill me or my friends," Naruto said with a frown. He could remember that there were many times that he had been instructed to kill, but he had always left the killing to his comrades while he merely defeated his opponents. Hades had not been pleased by it, but he had not pushed the issue. "Master Hades is not like that at all."

"You may honestly believe that," Jiraiya said with a sigh. "But the truth is that he is simply using you and your friends. One day, you will see firsthand what I mean. I only hope that when you do, you have not tainted your very being by the evil acts that he will force you to commit. And if you truly believe that he will not force the issue, then you may just find that he no longer views you as an asset and disposes of you. I regret that I could not stop you from going down this path, but I fear that it is too late."

Naruto tried not to listen, but the words were burned into his memory the moment that he heard them.

"I will go and get Erza and Mirajane, and then we will leave. There is no reason to fi-" Jiraiya began, but he was cut off by Naruto.

"Sky God's Bellow," he said as he expelled a twister of black wind from his mouth at Jiraiya.

"God Slayer Magic?" Jiraiya asked with a frown. He did not even have to move to dodge the attack though. A column of rock rose below him, taking him out of the range of the attack with ease. The spell easily broke through the column though, forcing Jiraiya to jump from his position towards Naruto.

"Rasengan," he said as a spiraling sphere of eternano formed in his right hand. It formed just in time to slam it into Naruto's stomach and send him spinning away into a tree.

The sensation of the Rasengan hitting him and grinding into him was a hundred times worse than breaking a tree in half with his body. That did not mean that it was something that he was unable to endure, however.

Naruto rose to his feet almost immediately, earning a look of shock from Jiraiya.

"That was a spell that your father made. It is a non-elemental grinding spell that is said to have no equal. How are you able to stand up so easily?" Jiraiya asked.

"Zancrow says that I'm a juggernaut because Sky God Slayer Magic is not just offensive. I can heal too," Naruto said with a grimace.

"You're healing yourself," Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "You're very surprising, Naruto."

"You'll find that I'm full of surprises," Naruto said as he lifted both hands up in front of him. His magical power began to sky rocket as feathers of black wind formed from his hands. He brought them behind him as the feathers of black wind began to gather together, forming a single large stream of them. "I haven't mastered it, but it's the only move I have that's strong enough. God Slayer's Secret Art: Heavenly Gathering of Clouds."

He brought his hands in front of him with one hand position over the other, both palms pointing down. The massive stream of black wind feathers spiraled around as it moved towards Jiraiya with surprising speed.

"That's a lethal move, kid," Jiraiya said with a frown. He leapt out of the way of the attack, just barely dodging it. "I'm going to have to end this before either of us do something that we regret."

As he said that, he began to form a Rasengan right next to the massive stream of black wind. The Rasengan was not blue like the last one that he formed was. Instead, it was black, having been formed with a mixture of eternano and the black winds of Naruto's spell.

Naruto, having overpowered the spell to make up for not having mastered it yet, was unable to even try to dodge.

"Sky God's Rasengan," Jiraiya said as he slammed the black Rasengan into his stomach.

Despite his natural resistance to wind-based magic as a result of being the Sky God Slayer, Naruto experienced pain that was only surpassed by what he felt when he fought Bluenote a couple years ago. This time, he did not stand back up when he broke another tree in half.

Instead, he just lay there, trying to focus on healing the damage that the spell did without falling unconscious.

"I'm sorry that I had to do that, Naruto," Jiraiya said with a sigh. "I did not have a choice though. You are still my godson, and I refuse to allow a fight between us to end in either of our deaths."

He began to walk towards Erza and Mirajane's fight, but he stopped before he left the clearing. "Naruto, if you ever step away from the path of darkness that you are on, I would like you to seek me out. I will be there for you, but I cannot sit and watch you descend into darkness. I hope for both of our sakes that we never meet on opposing sides again."

Though he was barely conscious, Naruto heard ever word that Jiraiya spoke.

Taking a deep breath, Jiraiya dashed towards the two S-class mages and saw that they were just barely holding their own against Zancrow. He frowned upon seeing that they were sporting burns and the Grimoire Heart mage was wielding black fire.

"Naruto is injured and is unable to move. I would suggest you go to him instead of continuing a pointless fight," Jiraiya said. He saw that Zancrow looked shocked and worried by his words.

Without even hesitating, the Flame God Slayer turned and ran towards Naruto.

"So he has at least one comrade that truly cares about him," Jiraiya noted with a small smile. He then looked to Erza and Mirajane. "Come on, we need to get out of here."

"Okay," Mirajane said wearily as she reverted to her normal form.

"I'm ready," Erza said with a slight grimace as she changed back into her normal armor.

"We should head to Magnolia as fast as we can," Jiraiya said as they began to make their way back to Shirotsume. "The Master of Grimoire Heart won't be happy when he hears about this."

"Right," they said, picking up their pace.

* * *

Author's Note: And that's a wrap for this chapter. When I was writing this chapter, I was not sure what to think about it. In some ways, it was better than expected. In other ways, it wasn't as good as I expected. Overall, I think it was a good chapter though.

I'm sure not everyone is happy about Naruto and Zancrow having short fights, but there's a big reason that I did not want to have a long, drawn-out fight. That reason will become evident either next chapter or the chapter after that.

Also, there will be another time-skip next chapter. This time, it'll be a lot shorter than the last one though. Whereas the first one was five years and nine months, the next one will be close to one year and three months.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing.


	4. Farewell

**4. Farewell**

_-October 14, X783_

Hades sighed as he slumped back in his throne with Caprico standing before him.

It was one day away from the seventh anniversary of him finding Naruto and recruiting him.

He could still remember the extraordinary potential that he had seen in the boy and how he had believed that he was what Grimoire Heart needed.

While it was true that the boy had great potential, he was also quite troublesome. It had frustrated him when Naruto had refused to take the life of anyone that was not trying to harm him or his friends. It was one reason that Naruto was never involved in the particularly gruesome missions that they did, such as destroying the town that Meredy was from.

The biggest issue with Naruto, as far as Hades was concerned, was that he still saw things in black and white. He was not afraid to voice his opinion when he thought they were doing something wrong, and he was willing to be reprimanded instead of doing something that offended his morality, like killing someone that he viewed as innocent.

If it was anyone else, Hades would have had them killed to prevent them from turning on him.

But Naruto was not just _anyone_. In terms of sheer magical power, the only two members of Grimoire Heart that exceeded Naruto were him and Bluenote. He was capable of matching Ultear in single combat now, making him tied for the strongest member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, though Hades personally believed that he could have beaten Ultear if he had been willing to use spells that could cripple or kill. As it was, she had to use Arc of Time and Ice-Make to keep up with him.

Naturally, he did not wish to lose such a powerful member.

The only other option that he could see was to put Naruto through a mission that would force him to begin to change his views.

Whichever option he chose, he knew that it needed to be done soon though. As it was, he knew that something had happened to make Naruto suspicious of him.

He suspected that it was a result of his encounter with Jiraiya while he was meeting with Brain about Ouroboros fifteen months earlier. Had Naruto not been the Sky God Slayer, he easily would have been in critical condition as a result of the fight. In the end, he had been fully healed within two days.

He was still not sure what Jiraiya had said to him, but Hades knew that it had to be something big. That was the only explanation he could imagine for why Naruto seemed to be suspicious of him.

"Tell Naruto that I wish to speak to him," Hades said after a long moment. "I have a job for him to do."

"Yes sir," Caprico said with a bow before he turned around and made his way out of the throne room.

"I hope that this works," Hades said once Caprico was gone. "It would be wasteful to kill someone with so much potential."

* * *

"You're getting pretty good," Naruto said as he did a back flip, dodging one of Meredy's teal blades. "I'm not surprised though. You always train hard."

"Not as hard as you do," she said with a slight frown. She never even came close to landing a strike on him.

"I'm supposed to be a juggernaut, and I was taken down with two spells," Naruto said, shaking his head. "You'll find that something like that can really push you to train hard."

"But you said it yourself. His attack actually grinded into you and caused stress on your internal organs. There's no way you could have endured a second attack in the same spot as the first, especially when it was combined with your black wind," Meredy said.

Naruto clenched his fist, still remembering how Jiraiya used his own magic against him. It had seriously irked him, though not as much as his words before their fight. Despite his own beliefs, he had found himself looking at Hades intently from time to time, wondering if he really was just using them. It did not help matters that he had started to learn certain things that made it seem more and more likely, such as how three members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory destroyed Meredy's hometown and how Ultear was manipulating a man named Jellal with Possession Magic.

He had spoken to Hades about how it was wrong to manipulate someone into using slaves to try to build something that was just supposed to be a distraction, but Hades had simply dismissed him.

Naruto dived out of the way, dodging another one of her teal blades by instinct.

"You're not even paying attention, and you're still dodging them," Meredy said with a frown.

"Sorry," Naruto said sheepishly as he walked up to her and ruffled her hair. "Meredy, you know you're important to me, right?"

She frowned, not liking the way that he suddenly asked that question. "Yes, of course I do. You're my best friend. You are Ultear are the only ones that don't treat me like I'm a kid."

"Never forget that you're very important to me," Naruto said with a smile as he turned away from her. "Caprico's coming this way, so I'll go and see what he wants. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay," Meredy said with a smile, though confusion was still present in her eyes.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked as he met Caprico at the entrance of the hall.

"Master Hades would like to see you, Naruto."

"Very well then," Naruto said as he walked past the goat-man and began to head towards the throne room.

Jiraiya's words began to play over in his head once again.

_I guess I'm about to learn if Jiraiya was lying or if he spoke the truth._

Shaking his head away from such thoughts, he sped up his pace. It would not be good to keep Hades waiting.

* * *

_-October 15, X783_

Naruto and Zancrow watched as the Grimoire Heart airship take flight once again. It had stopped just long enough for them to get off and get out of the way before flying off again.

The pair immediately began their trek towards the village of Konoha.

"It's been a while since we've done a mission together," Zancrow said, looking at his friend. "It's too bad it'll be such a boring mission though."

Naruto frowned at that. He was not used to Zancrow acting so casual about killing. "Zancrow, how do you do it? You can kill people that did not do anything bad, and you don't even sound bothered by it."

"Man, you're innocent," Zancrow said, shaking his head. "I don't think any of us but Caprico, Azuma, and Bluenote just kill without being bothered by it. Ultear doesn't worry about what she does because she knows what her Arc of Time can do in the Ultimate World of Magic. Rustyrose doesn't give a rat's ass about anyone but himself and is too busy looking in the mirror to think about it. And me? I just remind myself that in the Ultimate World of Magic, only mages will remain. Those that oppose Zeref will die too. I haven't killed anyone that wouldn't die anyways."

"Is it really worth it?" Naruto asked with a frown. "There are seventeen million people in Fiore. In this one country, we're talking about killing over fifteen million. None of our sins can even compare to what would happen if the Ultimate World of Magic only happened in one country. Can we really wipe out ninety percent of the population just to make our lives better?"

"It does sound bad when you put it like that," Zancrow said, frowning as well. "But this is our purpose. We have been trained to gather the keys and awaken Zeref. We both know that."

"Even if that means destroying towns and ending innocent lives?" Naruto asked. "I know about Meredy's town."

Zancrow sighed at that. "Master Hades asked us not to tell you since he knew you wouldn't be very happy. Ultear was actually worried that you'd tell Meredy."

"I couldn't do that," Naruto said with a grimace. "I never even considered it. Destroying their relationship like that… it would take a real bastard to just come out and say it."

"True, whoever did something like that would deserve to be burnt to ashes for it," Zancrow said with a nod.

"Do you have any regrets?" Naruto asked a few minutes later.

"Eh, I don't think about it too much," Zancrow said with a shrug. "I'm guessing you do."

"I do have one regret," Naruto said as he looked at Zancrow. "I don't regret accepting the offer to join Grimoire Heart when Hades offered it to me."

Zancrow looked at Naruto instantly, realizing that Naruto did not address Hades as _Master_.

"I don't regret anything I did for him, to be honest. I don't like to think about the blood I got on my hands, but I was never forced to kill anyone that did not deserve it," Naruto said seriously. "I don't even regret fighting guys like Bluenote and Jiraiya. My only regret is that I couldn't say my farewells properly."

"Farewells?" Zancrow asked in confusion.

"Zancrow, you're like a brother to me, and that's why this is difficult," Naruto said with a sad smile. "Hades did not send us here to break a seal on one of the keys. He sent us here to make me take the lives of people who were powerless to stop us. Knowing that they neglected and bullied me when I was a kid probably helped him make the decision though. He wanted to make me feel the weight of these deaths in the hope that it would break me. The Seven Kin of Purgatory are not his allies. They are his tools."

With those words, he lifted the bottom of his shirt up, revealing that the Grimoire Heart mark that had been on his stomach was no longer there.

"I am no longer walking the same path as Hades or any of the other Kin. I am no longer a mage of Grimoire Heart," Naruto explained. "I do not hate Hades. He did save me from that hellhole, after all. And I still think of you as a brother. That's what makes this difficult."

"You can't be serious," Zancrow said in shock. "You're abandoning us?"

"I'm abandoning Grimoire Heart, not you," Naruto said, shaking his head. "You can come with me. We can turn away from Hades and his plans."

"I will not abandon Master Hades," Zancrow said with narrowed eyes. "And even if you refuse to help me, I will massacre that village. I'll burn it to the ground, and then I'll kick your ass and drag you back with me."

"Then I guess you're going to get what you've wanted for years," Naruto said as black wind began to form around him. "You're going to get to fight me when I'm serious."

"It's about time," Zancrow said, though he did not seem nearly as excited as he would normally be.

The two God Slayers suddenly began to inhale a deep breath at the same time.

"Flame God's Bellow!"

"Sky God's Bellow!"

A large black fireball met a black twister, creating an explosion of flame and wind.

"Flame God's Kagutsuchi," Zancrow said as he quickly slammed his hands above his hand, forming a large black fireball. He threw it at Naruto with all of his force.

"Sky God's Boreas," Naruto said as two streams of black wind formed around his right hand and he threw them forward, forming a black whirlwind that snuffed it out and continued on towards the Flame God Slayer.

Zancrow was not about to be beat with an attack like that though. Black fire formed in each hand, and he brought them together, forming a scythe out of it. "Flame God's Scythe," he said as he swung it, slicing the whirlwind in half.

"Sky God's Spear," Naruto said as he gather black wind in each hand and formed a spear out of them.

With incredible speed, the pair sped towards each other and began to engage in combat with their weapons. Small explosions of flame and wind were formed as the two weapons clashed, but neither seemed to have an edge over the other with them.

"Catch this," Zancrow said as he suddenly threw his scythe at Naruto. Black flames once again covered his hands. This time, they were strange in that each one resembled a ghost-like apparition with a mouth on them.

Naruto spun the Sky God's Spear around and deflected Zancrow's Flame God's Scythe just in time to see Zancrow charging at him.

"Flame God's Supper," Zancrow said as he slammed his hands together, surrounding Naruto in the two strange looking fireballs.

"Sky God's Zephyr," Naruto said as his body changed into black wind and simply slipped out of the attack before allowing him to reform.

"You've never used that spell in fights with any of the Seven Kin," Zancrow said with a frown.

"I was worried that this would happen, so I had to keep some secrets," Naruto said with a weak laugh. "Forget how annoying it is to fight another God Slayer. Our attacks are so similar that we both know how to counter them."

"Then there can be no tricks," Zancrow said as he dashed forward with black flames shoot from the bottom of his feet. "Flame God's Firing Hammer," he said as he threw a flame covered fist at Naruto.

"Sky God's Swift Fist," Naruto said as he blocked the punch with a wind covered one of his own. "Sky God's Gale Kick," he said as he threw a wind covered kick at Zancrow face.

"Flame God's Burning Axe," Zancrow said as he blocked the kick with a flaming kick of his own.

They continued the exchange for several minutes, continuously countering with similar attacks.

By the end of it, the pair jumped away, and only Zancrow looked as though he had sustained damage. Naruto had been able to heal all of the burns that he received in the exchange, but Zancrow had no such abilities to handle Naruto's attacks.

"If you can't end this soon, you won't stand a chance at beating me," Naruto said. He did not look to even be remotely tired. Zancrow, on the other hand, was not doing as well.

"Fine then," Zancrow said, breathing heavily. "God Slayer's Secret Art."

Naruto's eyes widened at that, having no idea that Zancrow had gained access to an advanced technique like that.

"Sky God's Bellow," Naruto said as he expelled a twister of black wind at Zancrow.

A bow made of black fire appeared in Zancrow's hand, and he drew back an arrow made of black fire from it. "Hachiman," he finished as he fired the arrow.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed as the arrow wind through his attack and grew in size. The arrow was now the size of his Sky God's Bellow but was made of Zancrow's fire. In other words, it was not an attack that he could afford to be hit with.

There was one option that Naruto saw that he could take though.

Zancrow was the one that was shocked this time as Naruto suddenly flew straight up, completely avoiding his attack.

"I use my strongest attack, incomplete as it is, and he used Wind Magic to fly. That bastard…" Zancrow muttered before he collapsed.

Naruto flew down to Zancrow and sighed in relief upon seeing that he was just unconscious. He had exhausted his reserves of magical power, so he would be out for a while.

He placed a hand on Zancrow and began to use his magic to heal his friend's wounds.

"I'm sorry that it came down to this, but I did offer you a chance to come with me," Naruto said, shaking his head. "And damn, did you have to use one of the God Slayer's Secret Arts against me? It doesn't help that you used one that seems to absorb wind-based magic." At that, he glanced behind him and saw the path that the arrow had taken. Everything in its path for a couple hundred yards had been turned to ash, and black flames still danced upon the ground.

He rose to his feet once Zancrow was mostly healed and removed his shirt before dropping it to the ground. He had no intention of wearing Grimoire Heart's mark on his clothing, even if he did not have a spare.

"I hope you change your mind one day, Zancrow," Naruto said as he gave his friend one final look. "If you do, find me, and we can fight alongside each other like old times."

He doubted that Zancrow heard him, but he felt that he had to make the offer regardless.

* * *

Ultear, Caprico, Azuma, Kain, Rustyrose, and Meredy were all lined up in the hall that doubled as a training ground within Grimoire Heart's airship. Hades was standing before them with a frown.

"Master, has something happened?" Ultear asked. She was not physically there, but her Thought Projection was more than capable of representing her, given that it was connected to her.

"Yes, it would appear that Naruto has betrayed Grimoire Heart," Hades said with a grim expression, earning shocked looks from Ultear, Kain, Rustyrose, and Meredy.

"Naruto? He betrayed us?" Ultear asked in surprise.

"I sent him and Zancrow on a mission together, and Naruto took the chance to leave. This morning, I noticed that my book on Sky God Slayer Magic was missing, and Naruto had been acting unusual lately, so I sent a Thought Projection to watch over him. He offered Zancrow a chance to come with him, but they fought when Zancrow proved his loyalty to use. Naruto defeated him with only the use of his God Slayer Magic, and then he left him in the middle of the forest. We are currently headed to pick him up," Hades said with a sigh.

"I see," Ultear said with a hardened expression.

"Meredy," Hades said, gaining the attention of the youngest person present. "You are officially inducted into the Seven Kin of Purgatory as Naruto's replacement. I trust you will uphold the position with honor."

"Yes Master Hades," Meredy said with a bow.

"You are all dismissed for now," Hades said as he turned his back to them. "If any of you encounter him and believe that you can manage it, I would like for him to be captured and brought before me. I do not wish to lose any of you, however."

With that, each of the members of the Seven Kin left. Only one of them was unsure how to view their now former comrade though.

Meredy reached into her pocket and touched a note that she had found in her room shortly after Naruto and Zancrow had left. She removed her hand from her pocket as she tried not to think about it. She had to have faith in Ultear above all else. That was the only thing that mattered.

* * *

Author's Note: And that's a wrap. It was a challenge writing two God Slayers fighting, especially when I had to keep in mind that if I made Zancrow too powerful, Natsu would not stand a chance on Tenrou Island. I think it came out well enough though.

Now, I have to say that I was surprised when I looked at the reviews of the last chapter. I'm fine with people thinking that Naruto wasn't impressive, even if he was hit by a Rasengan and a Rasengan combined with Sky God Slayer Magic in the exact same spot. Given that Kabuto, who like Naruto could heal himself, was taken down by a single Rasengan in the Search for Tsunade arc, I don't really think that Naruto did that bad, but it's understandable that some of you would feel that way.

The main thing that surprised me, however, was a sentiment that a few reviewers shared with me. It was basically, "if Naruto goes good, I'm going to stop reading."

If the thought of Naruto being good bothers you, then I would suggest that you stop reading. He will be good, but he will also be a little dark. My preferred term for a character with both of those attributes is "gray." Crime Sorciere embodies it, really. Given that I stated that it is Naruto/Ultear, I thought it was obvious what direction I intended to take the story, though I suppose some people might have been under the assumption that I would completely change the direction Ultear went after her defection.

So to say it simply, Naruto isn't going to be evil, but he isn't going to be pure good either. He certainly won't be joining any legal guilds anytime soon, even if he did not have to worry about having a member of Grimoire Heart on the Magic Council.

Anyways, thanks to everyone that has read and reviewed up until now.


	5. Surprises

**5. Surprises**

_-December 15, X783_

It had been two months since Naruto had left Grimoire Heart, and he already felt that things were a little too quiet.

He had bought some new clothes to make sure that he did not stand out too much. Blue jeans, a red t-shirt, and a black coat were common enough to make him look like he was just _some guy._ In order to make sure that he did not stand out while he traveled, he could not wear a face mask, but he was pretty sure that the only ones that could recognize him on sight were dark mages, Erza Scarlet, Mirajane Strauss, and Jiraiya. He was confident that at least the last three would not have allowed the Magic Council to know of their encounter, however.

At the present, he was sitting at a table in a small restaurant in Magnolia. All of Fairy Tail's top ranked mages were out of town at the moment, having left for the Annual S-Class Promotion Trial earlier that morning. Well, Mirajane was in town, but she apparently retired since he last saw her. From what he had heard, she would be in the guild hall until night time, so he was not concerned that she would see him.

"You're getting pretty bold, Naruto."

Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized the voice. Looking up, he saw Jiraiya starting to sit down on the other side of the table from him.

"I must admit that I'm impressed. I expected my words to make you suspicious so that you can see the truth, but I did not expect you to come to that realization so soon. Even then, I was worried that you would not leave, but I figured that if you're old enough to legally drink, then you're old enough to be in charge of your own life," Jiraiya said with a smile.

"How in the hell did you find me?" Naruto asked sharply. "I have been using Wind Body to travel between towns, so you couldn't have followed me."

"I've had my toads watch you since we fought, kid," Jiraiya chuckled. "I employ it to allow me to watch pretty much any area in Fiore. Hell, one saw your fight with your friend, Zancrow. You didn't think I was just going to abandon you, yet again, did you?"

"I don't need you to look after me. I can handle myself," Naruto retorted. "Now tell me why you're here. I doubt you're planning on telling anyone I'm here, so why did you confront me?"

"Kid, you need to relax. I don't mean you any harm," Jiraiya answered. "I came to offer you a once in a lifetime opportunity. I want you to become my apprentice. I can teach you Rasengan, Toad, and seal-based magic. I might even be able to point you into the right direction for rediscovering your father's Hiraishin."

Instead of giving the answer Jiraiya expected, Naruto began to laugh. "Are you seriously trying to get me to train under you? Why should I even give you the time of the day? You're supposed to be my godfather, and I never even met you until I could legally drink. And to make the offer even less appealing, you'd probably end up trying to convince me to join Fairy Tail or one of the guild's they're close to, like Blue Pegasus. So the answer isn't just _no_. It's_ hell no_."

"Joining a legal guild would be good for you," Jiraiya reasoned. "If you joined one, you wouldn't be in risk of anyone recognizing you and reporting you as a dark mage. The Magic Council largely ignores the pasts of guild mages, after all."

"Even if I did join one, it would not be Fairy Tail," Naruto said with a frown. He knew that he needed to be careful about what he said. It would be bad if he accidentally revealed the connection between Hades and Fairy Tail. "Fairy Tail is the strongest guild in Fiore. If I joined them, it would be as good as declaring that I'm an enemy of _them_."

"And you didn't do that by leaving?" Jiraiya retorted.

"No, that's too tame," Naruto answered with a sigh. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I was actually thinking of stopping by Akane Resort and having a vacation."

"I can tell when I'm not wanted," Jiraiya said as he rose to his feet. "But first, I have something for you." As he said that, he removed a scroll from his kimono as handed it to Naruto. "Even if you refused to become my apprentice, you are still Minato's son and my godson. The Rasengan is your inheritance."

Naruto took the scroll from him and slipped it inside his jacket pocket. "Frankly, I'm shocked that you can tell when you're not wanted. It's pretty much a nonstop thing for me, after all."

"Very funny," Jiraiya said sarcastically. "Don't get into too much trouble, Naruto."

Naruto did not even look at his godfather as he left. In all honesty, he had wanted to thank him for handing over the scroll to him. That desire was greatly outweighed by his desire to go God Slayer on his ass for abandoning him when he was a kid and using that _Sky God's Rasengan_ on him when they first met. As Jiraiya was not a God Slayer, he took it as a personal insult that the man had called his spell that. While it was true that it had been infused with the black wind of a Sky God Slayer, it did not excuse it in his opinion.

There was one good thing that came out of Jiraiya using that technique on him though. It told him that it could be combined with his God Slayer Magic. As such, he could begin working on recreating the technique after he learned the Rasengan.

Closing his eyes, he gripped the scroll and put it away with Requip. It was not a magic that he was very good with, but he could use it to store a few items for quick retrieval. Before putting the scroll there, he had only kept three books in the pocket dimension. They were actually tomes of magic that he stole from Grimoire Heart before leaving, one of which had been the one on Sky God Slayer Magic. Given that the other two were not on Lost Magic, he doubted that Hades even noticed that they were gone.

He broke out of that line of thought as a waitress put his food down on the table.

"Thanks," he said as he began to eat.

* * *

Naruto left the restaurant about half an hour later, content after the good meal.

It appeared that his mood was not there to stay though.

Looking to his left, he saw a runic barrier. Looking to his right, he saw another one.

In front of both barriers, there were at least a dozen Rune Knights.

"Are you Naruto Uzumaki?"

At that question, he looked at a man approaching from his right. Had it not been for the voice, Naruto would have thought that it was a flat chested woman. He was that androgynous. He would never understand why some guys insisted on growing long hair and then putting it in a bun.

"That depends who's asking," Naruto retorted.

"He's spunky. I like that."

His eyes moved to his left and saw a woman approaching. She had purple hair that was pulled into a spiky pony tail, light brown eyes, and was easily recognizable as a woman, based on the size of her chest alone.

"I am Lahar, Captain of the Fourth Custody Enforcement Unit of the Rune Knights," the androgynous man answered.

"And I'm Anko Mitarashi, Captain of the Third Custody Enforcement Unit," the purple haired woman said with an overdramatic bow.

Naruto grimaced the moment that he heard the woman's name. He had been unaware that she was a Rune Knight. He knew that she had become Orochimaru's apprentice when she was six years old and had only stopped learning from him when she was twelve years old. That was when it was discovered that Orochimaru had begun to dabble in the Black Arts. Training under one of the Legendary Three Mages for six years and then having seventeen years to train by herself had most likely made her into a powerful mage.

"Yeah, I'm Naruto Uzumaki," he answered as his muscles tensed.

"We received an anonymous tip that you are a mage of Grimoire Heart. We are going to have to ask you to come with us," Lahar said calmly.

Naruto inwardly began to curse Hades and Ultear. Jiraiya would not betray him in such a way, despite bringing the subject up earlier. He knew that they had been too quiet to be heard while they were talking either. Oracion Seis were the only dark guild other than Grimoire Heart to know his last name, but he doubted that they would send in an anonymous tip unless they were ordered too. That left Grimoire Heart. They had a reason to do such a thing, and Ultear was in a position to make sure that the Rune Knights got the anonymous tip.

"You can feel free to search me. I don't have any guild marks on my body," Naruto said with a wink at Anko, who looked mildly amused.

"We are required to take you with us to Era," Lahar said in a tone that told him he would not back down.

"I thought we might hit this snag when you told me what I'm being accused of," Naruto said.

"Snag?" Lahar asked in confusion.

"Yes, we've hit a snag. You see, you want to bring me in for questioning, but I don't want to go. The Magic Council has a bad reputation for charging people with crimes and simple saying that they committed them without proof. There's a reason that people say that an accusation by the Magic Council is a sentence. They can do anything they want to and get away with it," Naruto explained.

"I will not allow you to speak of the Council in such a way," Lahar said with a glare.

"Calm down, Lahar," Anko said, waving him off. "He's allowed to have his opinion, and it is true that they can get away with many things since the rulers of the various countries generally allow them to do as they please. Still, we are required to bring him in."

Naruto hated that it had come to this, but he was going to have to fight both of them, along with their subordinates. To make matters worse, using Sky God Slayer Magic would make it obvious that he was not just a normal mage. As such, he would need to rely on hand-to-hand combat and Wind Magic.

"You may try," he muttered as he slammed his hands together and threw his hands out to his sides. "Wind Blast." A twister shot from each hand towards the two mages.

One of the twisters hit Lahar and sent him flying back, but Anko was easily able to duck under it.

"You're fast at attacking, but let's see how you are at evasion," she said with a grin as she punched forward. Four snakes shot out from the sleeve of her jacket toward him.

His eyes widened as he realized what magic she was using. That was Orochimaru's _Snake_. It was very similar to Toad. He had heard that it was easy for the user to control the length of a snake without actually increasing its girth. He had not actually realized that it was true until the snakes nearly reached him without the tips of their tails even leaving the sleeve of her jacket. Now that he knew that it had not just been a rumor, he suspected that the snakes really were capable of producing poison like another rumor suggested.

"Wind Blades," Naruto intoned as he slashed his right index and middle fingers through the air a number of times and suddenly jabbed them forward. Eight blades of wind shot forward and sliced the snakes up.

"That's some handy magic," Anko muttered as the sliced up snakes disappeared. "But what will you do if I do this?" Once she asked the question, she slammed a hand to the ground.

On instinct, Naruto flew straight up with his Wind Magic. He just barely reacted in time. A snake that was as big around as a horse broke through the ground where he had been standing with its mouth wide open.

"Damn it, woman! Are you trying to kill me?" he asked as he pointed his right palm at the snake. The wind began to pick up right in front of the hand, quickly forming a twister that shot into the snake's mouth and ripped it apart from the inside. "Storm Bringer."

"It would have swallowed you whole. You'd have been alive though," Anko answered with a dismissive wave. "The better question is… why is your magic so lethal? Those spells you're using are similar to that _Shinigami_ Erigor of Eisenwald uses."

"I haven't directed any lethal attacks at you or your comrades, so I don't see what the problem is," Naruto remarked. "Oh, and why aren't your subordinates rushing into action?"

"They were told not to," Anko said, glancing at Lahar's subordinates, who were rushing towards them loudly. "They're the ones that are supposed to hold up the barriers keeping you here, so I'm going to kick their asses after you get away."

Naruto looked surprised at that, but Anko just laughed.

"I like you, kid. You've got spunk and are pretty good at fighting. You don't seem half bad either, so I'm rooting for you. That said, I have to at least try to capture you," she explained. She then jumped into the air and sent a spinning kick towards his head.

"You're strong," Naruto said as he blocked the kick, only for her to do a flip and lash out with another kick to his leg.

"What in the-" Anko said as her second kick hit air. The moment before it made contact, his body turned into wind. "I didn't realize that he could do that."

She did a series of flips at that point, allowing her to land on her feet gracefully.

"Captain Lahar, are you alright?" one of the Rune Knights asked as they reached the unconscious Rune Knight Captain.

"You god damned idiots!" Anko barked loudly, scaring Lahar's subordinates. "You left your post and dropped the rune barrier. The target just turned to wind, and there is nothing keeping him here now. Grab your Captain and get marching to headquarters now, you maggots! You get to explain to the Chairman how you failed this mission because of your idiocy."

"Yes ma'am," the Rune Knights said in fear as they began to follow her orders. It was at times like the present that they were glad to be Lahar's subordinates instead of Anko's.

Once the Rune Knights were out of earshot, Anko muttered, "That kid's lucky that he has that super pervert on his side. If he didn't, I definitely wouldn't have let him go."

She hated to let someone get away from her like that, but she did not mind too much under the current circumstance. After all, her teacher's old teammate had helped her out of several tight spots in the past.

Deciding not to make her men wait too long, she began to make her way toward them.

* * *

After making his getaway from the Rune Knights in Magnolia, Naruto became a man on a mission.

In the two months that had passed since he left Grimoire Heart, he had gotten to enjoy the freedom of traveling around and not having to worry about anything. To have that taken away by Grimoire Heart angered him. Truthfully, he felt betrayed. He had not hated Hades or anyone in Grimoire Heart after leaving them. He would not have minded being on speaking terms with them at all, especially people like Zancrow and Meredy.

But then Grimoire Heart made the Rune Knights aware of his identity and past affiliation. He could have understood if they had done such a thing after he started telling people about them, but he had not said a word about who Hades really was, about the _Devil's Heart_ that gave Hades his vast power, about the locations of all of Grimoire Heart's subordinate guilds, about the identities of the members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory and about their powers, or anything else that would have been useful to their enemies.

Naruto was about to show Hades and Ultear a principle that they needed to learn to live by: never piss off a God Slayer.

He was standing before the guild hall of Zaxsa, one of the subordinate guilds to Grimoire Heart.

Lifting a hand toward the entrance of the guild hall, he said, "Storm Bringer."

A twister formed in front of his hand and shot at the guild hall, crashing through the doors. It was not actually designed to rip apart living creatures and only managed it earlier on Anko's large snake because it had its mouth open. Of course, technically the snake was not even alive. If it had been, then Snake would be Living Magic and forbidden by the Magic Council.

After breaking through the guild hall's entrance with the spell, he canceled it and walked towards it.

Dark mages began to rush out of it to defend their base, but Naruto took them down, one by one without even using his magic. They could not stop him from entering the guild hall.

The moment that he entered the guild hall, all of the mages present began to attack him. He never once used his God Slayer Magic, relying only on hand-to-hand combat and gusts of wind.

When the final mage dropped to the ground, Naruto heard him ask, "Who in the hell are you?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'd like to send a message to Grimoire Heart."

"What?" the man asked in surprise.

"Yeah, they decided to annoy me, so I'm going to send them a message. You guys are the first part of that message," Naruto said with a dark look in his eyes.

"Killing us won't do anything, even if you could," he said pleadingly.

"I have a better idea," Naruto chuckled as he lifted a palm towards him. "This isn't as final as death, but it's something that is a little scarier. It's called Drain."

Horror was clear in the mage's eyes as he began to feel Naruto's spell slowly suck the magical power out of his body.

"That feeling is your magical power being drawn from your body into the air with Wind Magic," Naruto cheerfully explained. "I'll make sure that I remove the magical power from the air so no one can speed up your recovery too. That way, it'll be at least a couple weeks before any of you recover. I'm sure the Rune Knights will show up before then."

Once the man had lost all of his magical power, Naruto moved to another one. Given that all of the mages in the guild were fairly weak in terms of magical power, he knew that he could do it to every one of them without there being any chance of a single one dying.

He was tempted to just kill them, but he was sending a message to both Grimoire Heart and the Magic Council. If he just killed them, then the Council would pursue him more intently, and that was not something that he wanted.

Plus, this plan offered one major advantage: the air was becoming saturated with magical power.

Being the Sky God Slayer definitely had its perks.

* * *

Author's Note: And that's a wrap. This chapter was easier to write than I expected, though I wasn't completely happy with the final scene. Still, it got the point across.

I do want to address the spell Naruto used at the end of the chapter, Drain. Aria used Metsu, an Airspace spell that drained Makarov of his magical power. When he was brought to Porlyusica, however, she said that it was Drain, a Wind Magic spell. I'm guessing that they are just two spells with the same end result but are in different branches of Air Magic. I might be wrong, but I don't think anyone but Mashima could actually prove me wrong on this.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing. I'm having a blast writing this, so hearing that you guys are enjoying it makes it even better.


	6. An Unexpected Reunion

**6. An Unexpected Reunion**

_-March 1, X784_

In the meeting chambers of the Magic Council, ten mages were sitting around a table, discussing recent events throughout the lands.

"And now, the matter comes to the mage known as Naruto Uzumaki," the Chairman of the Magic Council said as he looked around the table.

Ultear's eyes hardened at the name, but she was able to keep anyone from noticing. Well, she could not prevent Jellal, or Siegrain as the Council knew him as, from noticing.

"I do not see why we insist on pursuing him," Org remarked. "According to recent reports, he has attacked the headquarters of twenty dark guilds, all of which were subordinate to Grimoire Heart. He defeated every mage they had, drained them of their magical power, and sent the Rune Knights messages on where they could be found. If our information is accurate, then Grimoire Heart only has ten more guilds under them in Fiore. That is not the work of a mage of Grimoire Heart."

"He did attack Lahar and Anko," Leiji pointed out.

"If I was in his shoes, I'd have done the same," Siegrain admitted. "They trapped him and then demanded that they come with him on the bogus claim that he's Grimoire Heart. He actually offered to let them search him for a guild mark too."

Ultear barely stopped herself from glaring at Siegrain. Of course, she could not tell him that she was in Grimoire Heart and personally knew Naruto, but that did not stop her from getting angry with him for speaking in Naruto's favor.

"Perhaps it would be in our best interests to drop the charge of being a member of Grimoire Heart," Yajima suggested. "It will cause issues for us if he starts to go by his father's last name, instead of his mother's maiden name."

Everyone looked at the diminutive man at that, a mixture of surprise and confusion clear.

"What do you mean?" the Chairman asked.

"If anyone were to find out that we were labeling the son of Minato Namikaze as a member of Grimoire Heart, it might cause problems," Yajima answered.

Complete silence followed his words, only for it to be broken by the sound of Ultear's teal orb falling to the ground.

"What? Naruto Uzumaki is the son of Minato Namikaze, one of the Ten Wizard Saints?" the Chairman asked in shock.

"Yes, Jiraiya informed me recently. Apparently, Naruto is his godson, though he wasn't around to fulfill his responsibilities, so they don't have that good of a relationship," Yajima confirmed.

"We cannot continue to treat him as a member of Grimoire Heart under these circumstances then," Belno pointed out. "Minato was a popular man, and Sorcerer Weekly would definitely use this against us if it came to light. We cannot risk losing the trust of the general populace by continuing this, especially when we only have a flimsy anonymous tip to go on. I propose that we drop the charges associated with being a member of Grimoire Heart. However, I believe that we should still try to bring him in for questioning on the basis that he attacked two Rune Knight Captains."

"I second that proposal," Org stated.

"All in favor?" the Chairman asked.

The only one that did not raise her hand was Ultear.

"All opposed?" he asked.

She raised her hand at that.

"With a vote of nine to one in favor, all charges on Naruto Uzumaki for being a member of Grimoire Heart are dropped. He is to be brought in for questioning on the basis that he attacked two Captains of the Custody Enforcement division of the Rune Knights. This meeting is adjourned," the Chairman said.

Picking up her teal orb off the ground, Ultear immediately left the room and headed to her chambers.

Once she was there, she activated the orb, which doubled as a Communication Lacrima.

"Master Hades, there has been a development that you need to hear," she whispered into it.

"What is it, Ultear?"

"They just dismissed the charges on Naruto for being a member of Grimoire Heart, though they still want him for questioning for attacking two Rune Knights," she explained.

"That is fine," Hades replied. "The charges were never intended to stick. I merely wanted to send him a message that he would not leave without consequences. Unfortunately, the message that he sent in return was greater."

"They said that he took out twenty of our thirty guilds in Fiore," Ultear remarked.

"That is true," Hades sighed. "We cannot afford to retaliate against him yet either. After we replenish our losses and are sure that we can eliminate him in one fell swoop, we will do so. Until then, we must leave him be though. If he gets wind that we will not leave him alone, then your position will be compromised, among other things."

"Very well," Ultear said with a frown. "Master, they also said that Naruto's father is Minato Namikaze and his godfather is Jiraiya of the Legendary Three Mages."

"Are you certain that it is accurate information?" Hades asked sharply.

"Yes Master, I am," she responded. "Apparently, Jiraiya told Yajima of the Council directly. From the pictures I've seen, he definitely looks like Namikaze too. Apparently, Uzumaki is his mother's maiden name."

"Thank you for reporting this to me," Hades said gravely. "This changes things. We will need to move sooner to get rid of him than originally planned. We cannot be hasty though. Keep me informed if anymore developments occur."

"Yes Master," she said with a bow.

The lacrima cut off at that, ending the conversation.

"There's something going on that he doesn't want me to know about," she remarked with a frown. She immediately headed for the Magic Council's Archive. There was a connection between Minato Namikaze and Hades, and she wanted to know what it was.

* * *

While the Magic Council was deciding not to hunt him down as a Grimoire Heart mage, Naruto was sitting at a poker table in Akane Resort with a large number of chips in front of him.

In his opinion, it was a little funny how he got there.

At first, he had only planned on attacking one of Grimoire Heart's guilds and leaving a message to both the Magic Council and Grimoire Heart that he was not to be messed with, along with the fact that he had no loyalty to the latter.

Then it occurred to him that Grimoire Heart did not care about a single guild that served under them, so he could not stop there.

In the end, he thought wiping out two-thirds of Grimoire Heart's subordinate guilds was the perfect way to send his message. He directly benefitted from the plan too. He had not saved up that much money while he was in Grimoire Heart, so it had been an easy decision to steal the funds of every guild that he attacked. So not only did he send a clear message, he also made a big profit.

With the increase in funds, he had decided to drop by Akane Resort to have a little fun. After all, he had taken out all the guilds that he intended to unless they did something stupid again.

As he looked at his hand, he started to wonder if the Rune Knights were going to show up. He was not in a disguise, despite the fact that he was still a wanted man.

Truthfully, he was not worried about the Rune Knights coming after him at Akane Resort. It was possible, but only another visitor would report seeing a confirmed dark mage there, unless they were actively committing crimes. Akane Resort had a reputation for looking the other way when dark mages visited since their money was just as good as anyone else's.

"Full house," Naruto said as he showed his cards.

"You must be luckiest bastard in the world," the dealer muttered as the other players grumbled and slid their chips to Naruto.

"I'm pretty good at gambling," Naruto said as he rose to his feet. "I'm going to need to cash you though. I don't want to give you guys a reason to kick me out, after all."

"Good move," the dealer said, waving someone over. "Go with him, and he'll cash it out for you."

A few minutes later, Naruto was walking out of the casino with a full wallet.

He froze in place as he heard a familiar voice though.

"Fine Natsu, we can stop for a meal before we head back. I still don't know why you wanted to come with me on this job. It was just a simple delivery job."

Erza Scarlet was walking down the street towards one of the nearby restaurants. As it was, there was about fifty yards between them.

"He probably thought you were going to take another S-class job instead of deciding to take it easy," a flying blue cat remarked.

He was definitely not sure what to think as he stared at the blue cat that had white angel-like wings and could apparently talk.

"How was I supposed to know you'd pick a boring job like this?" a pink haired young man groaned. "You're always taking jobs where you slay demons or fight off armies. You even told us about that job where you had to fight off a hundred knights."

"I was not on the second floor, Natsu," Erza stated in amusement. "You should have-"

She suddenly turned and looked at Naruto with wide eyes, having come close enough to him that she could sense him, even without trying.

"What's wrong?" Natsu asked, noticing that she had stopped.

"It's been a while," Naruto said cheerfully as he walked toward the S-class mage, waving.

"Yes, it has," Erza said stiffly. "I am surprised to see you here. Is your _friend_ here too?"

"Nah, we parted ways more than four months ago," Naruto answered, giving her a knowing look. "How about I treat you and your friend to a meal? I just made a killing at the casino."

"Awesome! I'm always up for free food!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Aye sir!"

Naruto just stared at the blue cat for a moment, still caught off guard by its ability to talk.

"I do not have any problem with that," Erza answered, though her eyes were clearly fully of suspicion.

"That's good to hear," Naruto said as he began to walk with her toward the restaurant. Natsu and the cat ran ahead of them, too excited to wait.

"If you mean Natsu or Happy any harm, I will not hold back," Erza stated.

"I really did leave. Just ask Jiraiya. He found me a couple months ago, and we talked for a little bit before we parted ways. I'm self-employed at the moment. I'm sure you've heard of dark guilds being completely destroyed recently and left drained of their magical power," Naruto said, putting his hands in his pockets. "I have nothing against Fairy Tail, so just calm down. You should be careful who you threaten though. I am much stronger than Zancrow, and you could not beat him, even with your friend's help."

"You underestimate how strong you can become when you fight for people that you care about," Erza remarked. "Against someone that is a danger to my comrades, I can do much more."

"That must be the Fairy Tail spirit that I've heard of," Naruto commented. "It's pretty refreshing to hear for someone like me. But I don't think we need to discuss what makes a person strong at the moment. Let's just go and get something to eat. Once we're done and I pay, we can part ways. You can forget we even met if you want to."

Erza simply nodded in response and walked alongside him. Neither of them made another attempt at conversation.

* * *

Lunch went better than Naruto had expected. Erza seemed content to stay quiet, Natsu and Happy ate quite a bit, and he had even managed to get some ramen.

Erza was the only one that wanted to be quiet, though.

As she was eating a plate of strawberry shortcake for desert, Natsu decided to start a conversation.

"What kind of magic do you use?"

"I'm a wind mage," Naruto answered, creating a small twister in the palm of his hand to demonstrate his magic. "My magic isn't a good thing to use on humans though. I do have some spells that just blow my enemies away, but Wind Magic is really good at cutting. It comes in handy when fighting against beasts though. It's also pretty useful if you're camping and need some firewood or you're traveling and a tree is laying in the middle of the road."

"Natsu's magic is pretty cool," Happy said. "He uses Dragon Slayer Magic."

"Really?" Naruto asked in interest, feeling Erza's eyes boring into him.

"Yeah, Igneel taught it to me," Natsu answered with a grin. "Watch this." Fire surrounded his right hand at that.

Naruto smiled as he saw that, holding back laughter. It was a bit ironic to know that he was sitting at the same table as the Fire Dragon Slayer.

"You should be careful where you do that," Naruto said as he placed his hand over Natsu's hand, smothering the flames effortlessly. He removed his hand and put it under the table immediately afterwards. Without using Sky God Slayer Magic, he could not actually smother such flames painlessly. He managed to get a slight burn on the palm of his hand before he managed it. "But that's pretty cool magic. I bet it was awesome, getting to meet a dragon. I've always wanted to meet one, but they say that they disappeared seven years ago on the seventh of July."

Natsu looked shocked to hear that. "That's when Igneel disappeared! Do you know where he is? And how did you know he disappeared that day?"

"I just heard a rumor that they all disappeared on that day. I didn't know for sure before you confirmed it though," Naruto explained. "If they disappeared, they must have a good reason for it though. I heard that dragons think of their dragon slayers as their children, so they definitely wouldn't just abandon them."

Natsu smiled at that. "I'll find Igneel one day, and I'll introduce you."

"I look forward to it," Naruto chuckled.

"Hey, are you in a guild? If you aren't, you should definitely join Fairy Tail," Natsu asked with excitement clear in his eyes.

"No, I'm not in a guild, and thanks for the offer, Natsu," Naruto said as he put a stack of jewels on the table and rose to his feet. "But, I had some bad experiences with guilds in the past, so I'm just going to stay as an independent mage. If I'm ever around, I might look you up though. My best friend was a fire mage, and we had some really good fights. I'm sure it would be just as fun to fight you."

"I'll be waiting," Natsu said with a grin.

"I'll see you two around," Naruto said with a wave as he made his way to the exit.

* * *

After leaving Akane Resort, Naruto had walked west along the coast towards the port of Hargeon.

He continuously scanned the terrain as he walked, looking for a specific type or area.

When he was exactly halfway between Akane Resort and Hargeon, he found it. The area was open without a single tree in a quarter of a mile in any direction. It was also completely flat with the exception of the cliff that dropped off into the ocean.

It was an ideal location for one of his favorite past times: fighting.

"So, are you just going to keep watching me, or are you going to come out and fight me?" he asked loudly. His instincts were honed well enough to sense when someone was watching him. Well, it appeared that he could not tell when Jiraiya or his toads were watching him, but there was a vast difference in their ability.

About half a minute after he asked the question, he was treated to the sight of a young man rising from below the cliff on a cloud of sand.

The young man looked to be the same age as Naruto and had spiky red hair and dark rings around his green eyes. Naruto noted that his appearance was rather distinctive with black boots, black pants, a long crimson coat that was kept closed above the waist but bore slits in the front and back below the waist, a gray vest with a single strap over his left shoulder, and a tan calabash-shaped gourd strapped to the back of his vest.

"You've followed me for quite a while, haven't you?" Naruto asked with narrowed eyes as he turned to face the young man.

"I have," he agreed without a hint of emotion. "Are you Naruto Uzumaki, the man that destroyed twenty dark guilds single-handedly?"

"That depends who's asking," Naruto replied.

"I am Gaara, and if you are Naruto Uzumaki, I wish to fight you."

"Any particular reason?" Naruto asked with a frown. "Is there a bounty on my head?"

"I do not care for such trivial things as bounties. Power is the only thing that matters in this world, and I wish to test my power against your own," Gaara answered patiently.

Naruto was reminded of Azuma for a moment, though Azuma was not devoid of emotion like this individual appeared to be.

"I don't agree with you, but you're not asking me to debate with you. What you want is a fight, so I'll give you one," Naruto said as he suddenly flew backwards using his Wind Magic. "Begin whenever you're ready."

Gaara did not say a word in response. He merely jumped from the cloud of sand to the ground a few yards from the edge of the cliff.

As the cloud of sand began to move above Gaara, Naruto had the feeling that he would come to hate sand before too long.

* * *

Author's Note: And that's another chapter now. I think it came out fairly well, though I was having a hard time describing Gaara for some reason. If you didn't understand his appearance, he looks exactly like he does at the start of Part II, but he doesn't have the kanji on his forehead (his past isn't the same, after all) and he's eighteen years old.

I should probably say this now so I don't get asked this in a review, but Naruto was just being nice to Natsu when he declined the offer to join Fairy Tail. He does genuinely like Natsu since he reminds Naruto of a younger version of himself, so he wasn't about to be a jerk about refusing. If Gray had been the one to offer, Naruto probably would have been a lot less nice about it.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I'd like to discuss a certain topic. That topic is Meredy. I have decided not to include her in the pairing. I do like her and think that it could have been done, but I also think that it may complicate matters if I do it. So I'll just stick to Naruto/Ultear with them viewing her as a little sister.

And finally, when I put up the first chapter of this story, I wondered if it would be one of my more successful stories, so seeing that I'm still getting an average of over twenty reviews a chapter is something that makes me pretty happy. At the rate that it's going, it might be my second most reviewed Naruto/Fairy Tail fanfic by the time I post Chapter Seven. So I'd like to say thanks to everyone that has taken an interest in this story, whether you've reviewed it or not.


	7. Wind vs Sand

**7. Wind vs Sand**

_-March 1, X784_

"Sand Bullets," Gaara intoned the moment that his cloud of sand was directly above him. Small spherical shaped clumps of sand began to shoot at Naruto with surprising speed.

"Gale Palm," Naruto said as he thrust his right hand forward, open-handed. A wave of wind was produced from it, knocking the sand bullets away with ease.

A frown came to his face as he saw that Gaara looked bored. That was not something he liked to see on an opponent's face when he was fighting them.

"Sand Rebellion," Gaara intoned.

Naruto's eyes widened as sand rose from the ground below him and began to spin around. Before he could even get out of the way, the sand exploded. He felt the sand scrape across his skin the moment that it exploded. It felt like a good bit of it was embedded in his skin as well.

"You're pretty good," Naruto remarked as he used his Sky God Slayer Magic to heal the damage he sustained from the attack. The grains of sand that were embedded in his skin fell to the ground at a quick pace.

"Interesting," Gaara noted with a watchful eye. "You appear to have healing abilities. I have not dealt with anyone with such an ability before."

"Yeah, and I've never even heard of a sand mage like you before," Naruto retorted. "I thought maybe you were a holder-type mage because you came here on pre-existing sand and have been using it to attack instead of generating new sand like other sand mages do. But I watched your sand. The amount of it that you attacked me with could not have gotten in the ground since you stepped foot on the ground… unless you are actually a caster-type mage and can generate sand beneath your feet."

"I am fortunate to have found an opponent capable of discerning so much about my magic so quickly," Gaara remarked as he moved a hand to the cork of his gourd. "But now is not the time for conversing, Naruto Uzumaki. It is time to fight. Sand Fist."

Naruto grimaced slightly as Gaara's cloud of sand took the form of a fist with part of a forearm connected to it. It shot towards him with remarkable speed.

_Okay, he must use the cloud of sand initially to make his opponents think that it's his only source of sand. He's either discarding it by attacking me with it all at once, or he's going to attack from below with his sand the moment that I block. Either way, evasion will be my best bet._

With that in mind, he flew up pointed his open right hand toward Gaara. "Wind Cannonball," he muttered as he fired a cannonball sized blast of wind at the sand user.

Moments before it hit Gaara, sand shot out of the gourd, blocking the attack with ease.

Before Naruto could begin to think of a strategy, something caught his eye and he looked down. The giant fist made of sand had apparently changed direction and was about to hit him from below.

"Nice try," Naruto chuckled. His body turned to wind, allowing the fist to pass through him. Once it did so, he reformed. He then pointed his right hand at Gaara once again. "Wind Bullets."

A barrage of wind bullets suddenly shot at Gaara. It was evident that Naruto was working on the basis that if he peppered the area with wind bullets, Gaara would not be able to block them all.

He let out a groan when Gaara turned into sand instead of creating a shield, letting the wind bullets go through him without actually causing harm.

"You will find that most talented users of elemental magic can do that," Gaara said dryly.

Naruto got the sneaking suspicion that he had annoyed his opponent by doing that. He did not blame him either. There was nothing more frustrating than having an enemy negate an attack by performing an elemental transformation like that.

"Sand Slash," Gaara said as he suddenly swung his hand towards Naruto, sending a curved blade made of sand at him.

Naruto quickly dropped closer to the ground to dodge the attack, though he wanted to stay high enough that Gaara could not hit him with another sneak attack.

"Wind Blades," he muttered as he slashed his right index and middle fingers through the air a dozen times. As he thrust the fingers forward, twelve blades of wind shot at Gaara.

In all honesty, he expected his opponent to turn to sand to block them. That was why his actual response through him off.

"Sand Buster," Gaara intoned as he held his right hand toward them. Sand began to spin in front of his hand before forming a twister of it. The twister was strong enough to nullify the blade of wind and continue on towards Naruto.

"Storm Bringer," Naruto said, countering Gaara's twister with one of his own.

The two twisters were spinning in opposite directions, causing them both to slow down and dissipate when they met.

Gaara frowned as he saw his spell fail. It was easy to see that he was not so used to meeting a mage that could so easily match him. Given that Naruto was easily able to take flight and attack from a distance, Gaara was at a disadvantage, and that was not something he had experienced before.

"I hope you're ready for me to start getting serious," Naruto said as he crossed his arms in front of him. "Storm Mail." Spinning wind instantly began to form around his body, fitting over it like armor. He then put his hands in front of him, forming an _x_ with his index and middle fingers. "I didn't create either of these spells, but the same could be said about most mages. Emera Baram."

Once the name of the spell was spoken, a concentrated blast of wind blades shot from him his hands towards Gaara

"You are the strongest opponent I have fought so far," Gaara said as all of his sand began to return to his gourd. "I will have to stop holding back. If you die, I would like to express my thanks for allowing me to push myself." He began to inhale a deep breath as he prepared his next attack. "Sand God's Bellow."

Naruto felt as though his heart stopped when he heard the name of the spell and saw a twister of black sand shoot from Gaara's mouth towards the Emera Baram.

The prospect of Gaara being the Sand God Slayer had never occurred to Naruto. He was a very skilled sand mage, but that was all that he appeared to be. It was true that Gaara possessed magical power comparable to Zancrow, but the same could be said about many of the powerful mages that he had met.

There was no mistaking that he was a god slayer though. His magical power spiked when he used the magic, and it was clearly black sand, much like Flame God Slayer Magic and Sky God Slayer Magic produced black fire and black wind, respectively.

"I guess I pulled out Storm Mail for nothing," Naruto muttered as he canceled the spell. He could see that the Sand God's Bellow had just made contact with the Emera Baram and was overpowering it. Gaara might not have had a Sand Magic spell that was strong enough to counter Emera Baram yet, but the magical power of the Sand God's Bellow was clearly too powerful.

Emera Baram was actually Naruto's strongest Wind Magic spell, which made it clear that he would have to do the same thing that Gaara had done. It was either that or turn into wind, but if Gaara was going to show his true power, then Naruto would do the same.

"Sky God's Bellow."

Now it was Gaara's turn to look stunned as Naruto shot a twister of black wind from his mouth. It struck the Sand God's Bellow, overpowered it, and then barreled into Gaara, sending him flying off of the cliff. He was just barely able to summoned his sand quick enough to stop him from falling into the ocean.

The sand dropped him off onto the ground moments later before it returned to the gourd.

"That is the power that I have always wanted to find in an opponent," Gaara said to himself. "He has power nearly equal to mine."

"Are you ready to kick it up a notch?" Naruto asked as he landed on the ground with black wind surrounding his fists. "What do you say to a new rule? Only God Slayer Magic is allowed for now on."

"Very well," Gaara said as his fists transformed into black sand. "It would not be fitting to use our inferior magic in a battle between gods."

Naruto was eerily reminded of Zancrow's tendency to speak of himself as though he was a god due to his God Slayer Magic.

He was broken out of that train of thought when he saw Gaara begin to inhale.

"Sand God's Bellow!"

"Sky God's Bellow!"

Unlike before, Gaara's spell did not have to overpower Emera Baram before meeting Naruto's. As a result, neither manage to overpower the other. They did, however, canceled each other out with an explosion of black wind and sand, tearing apart the ground below where they met.

The two god slayers dashed towards each other, using physical attacks.

"Sky God's Swift Fist," Naruto said as his right hand flew towards Gaara, covered in black wind.

"Sand God's Iron Punch," Gaara said as he threw his right hand, which still appeared to be made of black sand, towards Naruto.

The two fists met in a small explosion of wind and sand.

They immediately jumped back though, feeling the effects of each other's attacks. Gaara's hand reverted back to normal and appeared scratched up. Naruto's hand was sore, feeling as though he had just punched solid iron.

"You can injure my hand when it's turned to sand?" Gaara asked in shock.

"Apparently," Naruto said, surprised as well.

"Interesting," Gaara remarked as he slammed his right hand down on the ground.

Naruto was forced to jump back as black sand was generated in waves from Gaara's hand. On instinct, he jumped up once he was free from the waves of sand. When he looked down, he could see that Gaara had tried to capture him with the black sand.

"I guess it's technically still God Slayer Magic," he muttered. A stream of black wind began to form from each hand, and he did a half spin, sending the two streams spiraling towards Gaara. "Sky God's Dance."

Gaara simply lifted his hands and clapped them together, using the large amount of black sand to block the spell.

"Let's see how strong your defense is," Naruto said as he landed. He lifted his hands up in front of him, and black feather-shaped winds began to form from it. He swung them behind him, generating even more of those winds in a large sphere.

"That power," Gaara whispered, clearly feeling the spike in Naruto's magical power.

"God Slayer's Secret Art: Heavenly Gathering of Clouds," Naruto intoned as he swung his hands in front of him, overlapping them with his palms down.

From the sphere of black wind behind him, a stream clearly made of feather-shaped black wind shot around him towards Gaara, spiraling as it did so.

Unlike when he used it against Jiraiya, it was in its complete form, and he knew that it would not completely drain him this time.

The spell tore through the wall of sand with surprising ease before it hit Gaara and threw him off the cliff.

Naruto quickly used his Wind Magic to fly towards Gaara, enabling him to reach the cliff and catch Gaara by the hand before he fell too far.

Looking down, he saw that Gaara's stomach was bleeding from his spell. Apparently, the wall of sand was strong enough to lessen the damage to the sand mage, though a wound like that was not something one could easily fight with.

"Why did you save me?" Gaara asked, looking at Naruto in confusion as he was lifted by the arm and set on the ground.

"I saved you because I had the power to do so," Naruto answered. "You believe that power is all that matters, but I don't agree. What matters is what we do with the power we do have. After spending years helping a group of people that cause pain and take lives, I'm starting to enjoy using my power to save people and fight against the darkness. Now sit back, and I'll heal that wound."

Gaara watched in puzzlement as Naruto began to heal him.

"This belief of yours… is it what made you this strong?" Gaara asked.

"No, I've been strong for longer than I've believed like this, but I've never wanted power for power's sake. I wanted to protect myself and my comrades at first. I guess you could say that I've always thought that power was something meant to be used to protect though," Naruto answered.

"I believe that I would like to experience this belief of yours first hand," Gaara remarked.

Naruto looked up at him at that and smiled. "It's kind of boring travelling by myself, to be honest. Come with me, and I'll show you what it's like to use your power to protect. If you decide that you don't want to continue down the same path as me, then you're always welcome to leave."

"I accept your offer," Gaara said with a firm nod.

"In that case, I do need to ask a question. God Slayer Magic isn't exactly common, so where did you learn it? Also, do I need to worry about any guilds coming after you?" Naruto asked.

"My father found a tome of Sand God Slayer Magic before I was born. He intended for me to become his weapon and make his minor dark guild feared throughout the lands. I crushed him with my sand and left five years ago, so you do not need to be concerned that they will come after me," Gaara answered. "The dark guild known as Raven Tail is the only guild that may attempt to come after me. I joined them for a time. I was not interested in his plans, only in testing my power."

Naruto probably should have been horrified at the admission that the sand mage killed his father when he was thirteen years old, but he was from Grimoire Heart, so he had seen the darker side of life.

"And are you wanted or anything? I'm sure you've killed those that lost to you when you fought," Naruto asked. He felt that it was for the best if he got those simple questions out of the way before he ended up surprised by them when they came up later down the road.

"I followed you here before I challenged you. If you had been with another, I would have waited until you were alone," Gaara answered.

"That's enough questions then," Naruto said, clapping his hands together. "You're healed now, so we can get a move on. Someone may have heard our fight. It's still afternoon, after all."

"Very well," Gaara said as he rose to his feet.

The two god slayers made their away from the area at that point. Though they had entered as enemies, they had left as allies.

* * *

Erza let out a small sigh of relief when she and Natsu reached the guild hall. She had been rather anxious to see Makarov ever since they had parted ways with Naruto at Akane Resort.

She quickly headed to the bar and took a seat next to where the guild master was sitting, knowing that everyone would be more focused on Natsu than any conversation she had with him.

"Did he destroy anything on the job?" Makarov asked with a sigh. It was not very common for Natsu to complete a job without collateral damage, after all.

"It went fine, actually. Nothing was destroyed, though that could have changed rather quickly," Erza replied.

"What happened?" Makarov asked, frowning.

"We ran into Naruto Uzumaki," Erza answered.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Makarov noted, simply raising an eyebrow. "He isn't a bad guy from what Jiraiya tells me. He just had the misfortune of meeting a bad man when he was a child."

"I can only go by what I know of his former comrade," Erza admitted. "Can you really change that much after you have been immersed in such a life though?"

"Yes, you most certainly can," Makarov answered with a smile. "There are many tales of dark mages that have sought redemption and ended up as great heroes. A look in the history books will show you many examples if you wish to see them."

"But he wasn't just a dark mage. He was one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory," Erza said, making sure to keep her voice even lower than before.

"And he has spent the last two months destroying twenty dark guilds that work under Grimoire Heart. He did not kill any of them either. They were all drained of their magical power and left for the Rune Knights to pick up," Makarov said, surprising her. "You would do well to look at people in shades of gray than light or dark. Everyone has light and darkness within them. You, of all people, should know that."

Erza looked as though she had been struck for a moment. She then realized that he still did not know the full story. After all, she had never wanted to talk about it. He only knew that she had taken a few lives before, not that she had cut down guards in order to escape from the R-System tower.

"That's different. I was a victim." Erza's voice grew bitter as she spoke the last word.

"And he was not? He was a victim of prejudice that caused him to have to walk down such a dark path to survive. A person will do many horrible things for the sake of survival," Makarov replied. "But that's enough of this. I'd appreciate it if you did not speak of him again to anyone else. According to my old friend Yajima, the charges on him for suspected involved with that guild have been dropped. Due to the wording that was used, he cannot be charged for being involved with it again in the future so long as he does not rejoin it. The Rune Knights are still under orders to arrest him though. During the S-Class Promotion Trial, some Rune Knights tried to apprehend him while he was here in town. He fought them off and escaped."

"He escaped from the Rune Knights?" Erza asked, surprised most by that information. After all, the Rune Knights were not easy to escape from.

"He knocked out Lahar, Captain of the Fourth Custody Enforcement Unit, and managed to fight evenly with Anko Mitarashi until Lahar's subordinates broke formation, releasing the Jutsu Shiki barrier that was supposed to keep him contained," Makarov explained with a hint of mirth. "And the interesting part is that he only used his Wind Magic."

"Isn't that his main type of magic?" Erza asked.

"No, he does use wind-based magic, but his main magic very closely related to his former comrade's magic."

Erza's eyes widened as she understood. It was obvious that Makarov was saying that he used God Slayer Magic, and it made her respect for his power grow.

"Now, do you have the message for me?" he asked quietly.

"Yes Master," she answered as she handed him a small piece of paper.

"Thank you for picking it up. It was very smart of you to pick up a routine delivery to Akane Resort to disguise it too. If Natsu had knew that you were actually picking up a message from Jiraiya for me, he would not have shut up about it," Makarov commented, pocketing the piece of paper.

"It was not a problem," Erza said as she rose to her feet. "But now, I'm going to go take an S-class job. I'm done relaxing for the moment."

"Sure thing," Makarov said as he watched her head up the stairs. He pulled the note out and opened it. A big grin came to his face as he read it. "He's sending me an advanced reading copy next week? Sometimes, I'm so glad to have a friend like him."

"Master," Mirajane said sternly, looking at the note.

"And other times, I'm not," Makarov muttered as Mirajane continued to look at him sharply.

* * *

"Will that be all, Master Hades," Bluenote Stinger asked as he stood in the throne room of Grimoire Heart's airship.

"There is one more thing," Hades said, leaning forward with his fingers interlocked. "As it turns out, Naruto Uzumaki was dismissed of the charges of being a member of Grimoire Heart. The charges were dismissed because Yajima of the Magic Council revealed information about him that not even we possessed. He is the son of Minato Namikaze."

"He is?" Bluenote asked in shock. "Now that you mention it, there is a resemblance between the two, but there is some resemblance between a young Makarov Dreyar and him as well."

"Yes, that is one reason that I never thought of the possibility," Hades agreed. "But our failure to notice does not matter. What matters is that Naruto dies before he learns the truth of why he was orphaned in the first place. He will spill all of our secrets otherwise."

"You want me to hunt him down and kill him?" Bluenote asked, looking pleased by the prospect.

"After you complete your mission, that is exactly what I want you to do," Hades replied. "Be warned though. Jiraiya is his godfather, and he may be watching him from afar. If you spend too much time playing with him, you may find yourself overwhelmed by one of the Legendary Three Mages."

"I might have to stick around long enough to face him after I destroy the punk then," Bluenote remarked with a grin. "I've always wanted to see how powerful one of those three mages are."

"Do not forget that it was he who trained Minato Namikaze, and you know how powerful he is," Hades cautioned.

"Don't worry about it," Bluenote said dismissively. "It may have taken both of us and some cannon fodder to kill Namikaze, but his master is long past his prime and has not been pushed to his limits in years. He has nothing on me."

"Very well then," Hades said as he leaned back. "You are dismissed."

Without saying another word, Bluenote turned and left, grinning the entire time.

* * *

Author's Note: And there's another chapter down. I wrote the entire Naruto vs Gaara fight last night before I went to bed, so hopefully I didn't make any stupid mistakes.

I'm really glad that Naruto isn't alone anymore in the story. It was kind of getting annoying having him on his own. It's also nice to finally reveal what will cause Naruto to completely turn against Hades instead of trying to be neutral to them.

Oh, and I'm sure someone may get the wrong impression by me introducing another God Slayer into the story, so I will go ahead and say that at the very most, I'll only have two more. It's more likely that it'll just be one, but I like to give me some breathing room. I might not even have one more either, to be honest. It just depends which plan I go with for a certain antagonist.

I'm looking forward to getting on into the canon storyline. Naruto won't actually be involved in most canon arcs, but I think my overall plan gets better during the canon storyline.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing.


	8. Change of Plans

**8. Change of Plans**

_-June 1, X784_

"Naruto, do you have a plan?" Gaara asked, staring at his comrade as they walked down the road.

As the sand mage had come to expect in the last three months, Naruto's response certainly lacked grace. "Huh?"

"Three months ago to the day, I decided to come with you to see your belief firsthand," Gaara said, coming to a stop.

"And you've admitted that you like the feeling you get when you fight to protect instead of to prove your power," Naruto pointed out. It had been a surprising admission to Naruto, in all honesty. Despite travelling together for three months, Naruto and Gaara were not nearly as close as one would expect. Gaara seemed to prefer to stay quiet most of the time, only speaking a great deal about serious matters.

"I did not say that I regretted it," Gaara remarked. "You are missing the point. We are heading to the headquarters of the last dark guild that you know of in Fiore, other than the remaining dark guilds that serve Grimoire Heart. You evidently wish to leave them alone though. So what do you plan to do after this? Will we aimlessly search the lands for dark guilds?"

"I'm not that good at planning," Naruto sheepishly admitted. "I've been thinking about this though. Once Ghoul Spirit is destroyed, we will have to change how we do things. We've already taken out twenty guilds since we started working together, not to mention that bandit guild that attacked us a week ago."

"Have you come up with anything concrete yet?" Gaara asked, actually sounding interested.

"There's no way to completely stop dark guilds from existing. If the Council doesn't have evidence that you've committed any crimes, you get a six month sentence in prison for simply joining a dark guild. I started destroying dark guilds five and a half months ago, so the mages that didn't do anything that could be proved other than joining a dark guild are going to start getting out in two weeks. Most of them will probably join other dark guilds or form new ones," Naruto answered, sounding very annoyed.

"Perhaps the impossibility of actually wiping out every dark guild is the reason that you wish to do so. You have mentioned that part of the reason you do this is to atone for the actions of your old comrades in Grimoire Heart," Gaara remarked.

"Maybe," Naruto said with a shrug. "Either way, we're going to have to change how we do things. Unless we go after the guilds under Grimoire Heart, the only options I can think of would be to search for dark guilds randomly, try to dig up some information on dark guilds, or go up against Raven Tail. You know where their headquarters is, after all."

"I do not care for the wellbeing of my former comrades in Raven Tail at all, but I would recommend that we do not go with such a course of action. I left because Raven Tail did not benefit me, but it is not a weak guild. There are few people that I have met that surpass my power, and the Master of Raven Tail is one of them. Perhaps you would be able to defeat him as you defeated me, but meeting him in single combat would not be an easy matter," Gaara said.

"Let's worry about this later. Searching randomly would be pretty stupid, and you've already made it clear that we shouldn't attack Raven Tail. That leaves us with two options, but I really don't want to go with one of them unless we absolutely have to," Naruto said, effectively ending the conversation.

* * *

"Are you done yet?" Gaara asked with a hint of impatience in his voice.

"I'm just about done," Naruto answered with his hand outstretched to a downed mage of Ghoul Spirit.

Taking down a dark guild was considered to be difficult by most mages, but when Naruto and Gaara did it, the fight lasted only a minute or two at the most.

This time, for example, Gaara had simply blown the doors of the guild open with his Sand Blast before walking in, waiting for every dark mage to come out to face him, and incapacitating them all with two spells.

By the time Naruto entered, it had been over.

"You really do a number on them, don't you?" Naruto commented as he looked at the dark mages' broken legs. He definitely could not deny that Gaara's methods were effective. He simply covered every mage in sand below the knees and made essentially made the sand implode, crushing anything caught within it. As a result, the mages all received broken legs in a single moment, preventing them from fighting.

Naruto had actually talked to Gaara about how much force he used in the attack since they started working together. The first time Gaara had used the strategy, he had shattered the bones in the mage's legs to such an extent that Naruto had not been able to heal them completely. The man would be able to walk again, but he would need a cane.

Of course, the actual first time that Gaara tried to incapacitate a mage during their time together, he had ended up killing him by completely encasing him in sand putting too much force into it. They had needed to hide the body to make sure that the Magic Council did not cause them any problems.

The Magic Council was actually the only reason that Naruto and Gaara tried to adhere to a policy of incapacitating enemies instead of killing them. If they were to resort to killing them, then the Magic Council would have to pursue them with a greater amount of effort, along with potentially putting bounties on their heads.

Plus, he did find it somewhat amusing to imagine the look on Ultear's face when she heard of yet another dark guild that had ended up with broken legs and had been drained of magical power.

"Did you find where they keep their money?" Naruto asked as he stopped his spell.

"It was not well hidden," Gaara answered, nodding and holding up a sack that was roughly the size of a head. He proceeded to toss it to Naruto, who put it away with Requip. He would take it out later so he could put it with the rest of their money in a secret hiding place.

"They never put effort into hiding it. I guess they just don't think anyone's going to attack them directly and steal their money," Naruto said as he looked towards the doors. "Let's head out of here though."

Gaara followed Naruto away from there without saying a word.

The pair walked a ways through the forest, eventually coming to the clearing where Naruto fought Jiraiya nearly two years ago.

When they reached that spot, Naruto let out a very audible groan.

"Naruto, who is that?" Gaara asked, staring at the man that was standing at the edge of the clearing on the other side.

"That is Bluenote Stinger, Deputy Commander of Grimoire Heart," Naruto answered, staring at his former comrade.

"I expected someone younger," Gaara remarked, looking at the middle-aged man in interest. He had heard many things about Bluenote before, both from Iwan and Naruto. Frankly, he thought that the green cloth that Bluenote kept wrapped around his long ponytail made him look strange, though he was not about to say that aloud.

"Can you fly?" Bluenote asked as he walked into the center of the clearing.

"You know damn well that I can fly," Naruto retorted sarcastically. He knew that Bluenote did not mean the question literally. It was just how he asked if someone was capable of standing up to his Gravity.

"Fall," Bluenote said, ignoring Naruto's remark.

The gravity everywhere around Bluenote intensified, literally lowering the clearing by about ten feet and leaving the ground cracked in large pieces. Gaara had been brought down by the spell, lying face first. Naruto, on the other hand, simply fell to one knee. He was able to endure well enough not to actually be slammed into the ground.

"You have grown," Bluenote commented with a smile as he saw how Naruto had held up to his spell. He was starting to get excited about the possibility that a fight with Naruto would not be as boring as he expected.

Naruto rolled his eyes. It was strange to receive a compliment of any sort from Bluenote, especially when he was using his magic against him. "Yeah, you'll see how much I've grown soon enough. I don't suppose you'll tell me why Hades waited so long to send you after me, will you?"

"That's none of your business, you shitty brat," Bluenote said, growing seriously. "You were not a priority until now. But now… now, I can destroy you. I hope you don't make it too boring for me though.

"I didn't think you'd give me an answer," Naruto muttered, giving his downed comrade a look. "Gaara, do it now."

Bluenote looked shocked as a massive amount of sand suddenly rose from the cracks in the ground around him and spun around. His gravity had let up during the conversation, allowing the sand to move easily.

"Grand Sand Rebellion," Gaara said as he stood up, causing the massive amount of sand around Bluenote to explode. "You managed to stall him long enough for me to set up the attack. That was well done."

"I noticed the gravity let up a little. I'm just glad you set up that attack without me saying anything," Naruto remarked, watching the sand from Gaara's attack fade away. Bluenote was still standing, but it appeared that he was unable to use his Gravity Magic to repel the attack before it hit him.

"That was foolish," Bluenote said, brushing the sand off of him. His jacket was torn from the attack, but he looked to mostly be unharmed. "You had an opening, and you only used it to do this? I've been hurt more shaving."

"Who said there was only one attack in place? Sand Prison," Gaara intoned, looking at Bluenote without a hint of emotion. Sand once again rose from the cracks, but the amount of it that appeared this time was at least double what was used in Grand Sand Rebellion. The sand rose up in the form of a wall around Bluenote and appeared to have claws at the top of it. As the sand reached its peak, the claws interlocked, and the sand began to condense from a massive dome of sand to one that was the size of a small house.

"Grand Sand Burial," Gaara said as he brought his hand forward in a special hand sign with his hand turned ninety degrees counter-clockwise and his fingers flexed as thought he was grasping something.

The moment that Gaara began to use the spell, Naruto started slashing his right index and middle fingers through the air in rapid strokes that did not seem to make a pattern of any sort.

Like his normal Sand Burial, Gaara's Grand Sand Burial imploded in an attempt to crush Bluenote.

The spell did not quite work out the way he expected though.

The sand did implode, but when it began to fall away moments later, Bluenote stood unharmed with sand suspended around him in the air.

"It would appear that my sand cannot go up against his gravity," Gaara noted with narrowed eyebrows.

"Wind Blades," Naruto said as he suddenly thrust his right index and middle fingers towards the Deputy Commander of Grimoire Heart. No less than fifty blades of wind shot at the target with incredible speed.

"Sand Magic and Wind Magic… with only that, you will never fly," Bluenote remarked as he held up a hand. "Push."

A wave of gravity shot forward and destroyed the wind blades. It then struck Naruto and sent him flying back towards the wall of earth that surrounded the area due to Bluenote's first spell.

Instead of actually slamming into the wall of hard rock, however, Naruto found himself hitting sand.

Looking around, he noticed that Gaara had managed to create some sand in time to catch him.

"Gaara, we're definitely going to lose if we don't step things up," Naruto said with a sigh. "Let's show him our full power."

"Your analysis is correct," Gaara agreed as he allowed all of the regular sand at his disposal to fall to the ground. "Not even a man of his caliber can completely stop _that_ attack."

"On my mark then," Naruto said as he rushed forward and inhaled a deep breath. "Sky God's Bellow."

"Sand God's Bellow," Gaara intoned as he did the same.

Surprise registered across Bluenote's face as a twister of black wind and one of black sand flew towards him, side by side. He lifted both of his hands to wipe them out with a single push when the unthinkable happened.

They combined.

"Push!" Bluenote yelled as he fired a wave of gravity at the god slayers' Unison Raid.

"It worked," Naruto whispered as he saw that the _Twin Gods' Bellow_ did not get snuffed out by the wave of Gravity Magic. In fact, it appeared to be drilling through the wave of gravity. He had an idea for how to help out though.

Turning to wind, he flew into the cracks in the ground and sped to his target. He only rose to the surface when he was a ways behind his opponent.

Reforming directly behind Bluenote, Naruto glanced at his right hand, where a sphere of spiraling eternano had begun to form.

Firing black wind from the bottom of his feet, Naruto sped towards Bluenote and slammed the sphere into the man's back. "Rasengan!"

"What?" Bluenote muttered as he felt the unexpected grinding sensation in his back and heard Naruto's voice. He was shot forward through the wave of gravity and into the attack bellow attack that he had been focused on.

When the mixture of sand and wind hit Bluenote, it began to drill into him, forcing him to use some of his Gravity Magic to reduce the damage. It still easily managed to leave rips in his clothes and cuts spread out across the front of his body.

Fortunately for him, it did not last too long though. His Gravity Magic actually did weaken it enough so that it only lasted around twenty seconds before it began to dissipate.

"Sky God's Boreas," Naruto said as two streams of black wind formed around his right hand and he threw it at Bluenote. He was not stupid enough to think that a Unison Raid and the Rasengan would finish the fight. Bluenote was comparable to great mages like Jura Neekis and Gildarts Clive, after all.

"Sand God's Whirlwind," Gaara intoned, using an imitation of the attack that Naruto just used.

"Seriously? He's copying me in the middle of a fight?" Naruto muttered.

"Push," Bluenote yelled, completely annihilating the two similar attacks and throwing their users back against the hard rock walls.

"Gaara, it looks like even together, we're not strong enough to match a monster like this, even for a little while," Naruto whispered as he stared as his comrade. He saw Gaara nod with a knowing look in his eyes.

"You have advanced. To think that you of all people would actually hurt me… it is unbelievable," Bluenote said, staring at Naruto. "I never thought I'd experience that attack again, but this does offer me a unique opportunity. You will tell me how to use that spell. Do so, and I will kill you painlessly. Fail to do so, and your death will come in the most painful manner that has ever been devised."

"Fuck you," Naruto retorted. He was unable to say anything else, however. The moment that Bluenote heard his words, he lifted him into the air with Gravity Magic and began to rapidly increase the gravity around him, causing him intense pain.

"You underestimate how much I want that spell," Bluenote said darkly. "You have never felt pain on the level that I will make you experience if you fail to give me what I want."

"Do it now, Gaara!" Naruto yelled, making Bluenote turn to look at the other god slayer.

When he did, he became visible confused. Gaara was nowhere in sight.

Turning to look back at Naruto, Bluenote gritted his teeth. Naruto had shifted into wind and slipped away when he turned his attention to where Gaara had been.

"You can run and hide, but you cannot escape from me forever," Bluenote said with fury evident in his eyes. "I will find you, and I will destroy you, Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

In the forest far to the southwest of Shirotsume, Naruto's body finally returned to its normal state. Gaara was leaning against a tree a dozen yards away from him.

"That was a disaster," Naruto muttered as he sat down on the ground. "I never dreamed that Bluenote would come after me."

"It is men like him that led me to believe as I did when we met," Gaara remarked. "But even after seeing such a display of power, I am not tempted to return to my old ways. If anything, I am starting to feel excited."

Naruto looked at Gaara in surprise, not used to hearing him speak of such an emotion before.

"We have men like him standing in the way of our path, and we will have no choice but to destroy them. It gives me something to look forward to," Gaara explained, seeing Naruto's reaction. "We still have much farther to go before we reach the level of a man such as him, however."

"Yeah, we do," Naruto agreed. "I guess that meeting Bluenote was not entirely bad then. It showed us how far we need to come, and it opened up an option to us."

"Oh?" Gaara asked.

"I still know where ten guilds that serve Grimoire Heart are located. If Hades has decided that he wants me dead, then I can't stay neutral to Grimoire Heart any longer. We'll destroy those guilds right away. I do still have some former comrades that I don't want anything bad to happen to, so sharing too much of the information I obtained while I was in Grimoire Heart is still out of the question though," Naruto answered.

"And what will we do once we accomplish this endeavor?" Gaara asked.

"I didn't want to do it before, but I think it's the best option in the end," Naruto said as he rose to his feet. "We're going to have to hunt down a man that knows more about Fiore than nearly anyone else."

"Who is that?" Gaara questioned.

"Jiraiya of the Legendary Three Mages… and my godfather," Naruto answered with a hard look in his eyes.

"This will be interesting," Gaara mused.

"Yeah… but first, let's get to a safer place to rest. I'm already starting to feel like shit after that fight. His last spell really did a number on me," Naruto sighed.

Gaara merely nodded. He was not as affected by the fight, but he had only been hit by _Fall_ and _Push_ a single time each. Naruto had been hit with an additional _Push_ and _Crush_.

* * *

Aboard Grimoire Heart's airship, Zancrow was sitting in his quarters, thinking about the events that had occurred eight months ago and their consequences.

"What's got you looking so down?"

"What in the hell are you doing here?" he asked sharply, looking at the second to last person he expected to see: Ultear.

"Is that any way to address the leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory?" Ultear replied with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"What do you want?" Zancrow asked, not caring about her authority in the least.

"I just thought you'd want to know that I located Naruto earlier," Ultear answered with a smirk. She saw that she now had Zancrow's rapt attention. "I did not get close enough to speak with him, but I had a Thought Projection observing him. Apparently, Master Hades sent Bluenote to kill him."

Zancrow's fists clenched at those words, and it was clear that he was furious.

"Naruto actually managed to wound Bluenote too. He met another god slayer, it seems. They performed a Unison Raid with their bellow attacks. It did not injure him that badly, but it was far more than anyone could have expected," Ultear remarked, leaning against the wall next to the door.

Zancrow was not sure what to say. On one hand, he was stunned that Naruto managed to injure Bluenote with the help of another god slayer. On the other hand, he was annoyed by the thought of Naruto replacing him with another god slayer.

"Why are you telling me this? You've made it clear that you hate him for leaving," Zancrow asked with narrowed eyes.

"I did not hate him. I was furious that he left, but I have since calmed down," Ultear said as she moved away from the wall. "I have certain suspicions. If I am correct, then it was for the best that Naruto left. I cannot say anymore at the moment though. I would advise that you keep that to yourself."

Zancrow stared at his comrade with curious eyes, but he did not ask any about that subject. "Naruto was never loyal to a guild. He told me once that he was loyal to people, not a guild. So even now, I'd say that he's still loyal to his old friends here. He'd probably say that he kept quiet about our secrets to try to stop Master Hades from sending someone after him, but I doubt that's the main reason he's kept quiet. I know Naruto better than anyone, and I know that he doesn't want anything bad to happen to me, Meredy, or even you. That's the main reason he hasn't shared any information. Even after today, he won't say a word about who the Seven Kin are or what we can do. I don't care if you believe me or not. You'll see for yourself."

Ultear looked surprised by his words, but she did not address them directly. She knew that he was right about one thing at the very least. She would see for herself if he continued to keep quiet, and if he did, it would be clear why he continued to do so.

"This has been an informative conversation, but I must dismiss this Thought Projection now. Have a nice day, Zancrow," Ultear said before she disappeared.

"Finally," Zancrow muttered as he laid down on his bed. Naruto's image came to his mind at that point, and he once again wondered if he made the right decision to try to bring Naruto back instead of joining him.

* * *

Author's Note: And there's another chapter finished. Through the Darkness is officially my second Naruto/Fairy Tail fanfic to get to Chapter 8, as sad as that is. I think so, at least.

Regarding the chapter...

-I actually thought the Naruto/Gaara vs Bluenote fight would last longer than it did, but at this point, they just aren't strong enough to fight him well enough for me to write a longer fight. Don't worry though. This was only Bluenote's first fight against Naruto. I have another planned later on.

-Some of you might not be too thrilled a the prospect of Naruto seeking out Jiraiya while others fill the opposite way. The two will eventually have a good relationship, but that does not mean that they are going to be really close anytime soon. Naruto simply knows that Jiraiya can find out more about dark guilds than he can, so he wants to use that.

-Regarding the scene with Ultear and Zancrow... it was not planned originally, but I decided to show how Ultear's opinion on Naruto has changed and how Zancrow is feeling conflicted with his doubts about refusing Naruto's offer. And if you didn't catch the hint, Ultear suspects Hades and Bluenote's involvement in Minato's death.

On another note, my time-skips should be slowing down soon now. It looks like I only have one more time-skip that will last longer than a month until the big time-skip in the story. I definitely don't have enough material to completely fill the canon time-skip with, so there will be a big time-skip later on. It will be smaller than the canon time-skip though.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing.


	9. Surprising Meetings

**9. Surprising Meetings**

_-July 2, X784_

"Are you sure you should be walking around in town without hiding your face?" Gaara asked as he walked down the street next to Naruto.

For once, he did not have his gourd on him, having been convinced to leave it in the forest outside of town to prevent him from catching unneeded attention. He was far from powerless without it as it was. The only reason that he even carried it around was because it was easier to carry sand that was made to be as strong as iron than it was to make sand that strong during a fight.

Unlike Jura of Lamia Scale, whose Earth Magic also relied on him increasing his element to the strength of iron, Gaara lacked the ability to easily alter his element's strength in battle. It took too much concentration for him to do it practically against strong opponents.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Naruto replied with a dismissive wave. "Only the three of us are even aware of the meeting, and Hargeon's a port town that deals more with fishing than magic. I doubt anyone here will even recognize me, and it's even less likely that anyone will recognize you."

"Very well," Gaara said, accepting the answer. "We're still over an hour early. I intend to go there and wait. Do you wish to look around before meeting us there?"

"Yeah, I think I'd like to have a look around first," Naruto answered thoughtfully. "I'd like to see if they have a magic shop somewhere in town. I'll make sure to get there on time."

"I will see you shortly then," Gaara said as he began to head to the designated meeting spot.

Naruto, on the other hand, simply closed his eyes for a moment and focused. He quickly detected four sources of magical power. One was clearly Gaara. The second was just barely strong enough to register and was not moving. The third was at about the level of the dark mages that Naruto dealt with on a regular basis and was moving. And the fourth was just a little weaker than the third and was moving towards the second.

"The second must be the owner of the magic shop," Naruto mused as he opened his eyes and began walking in the direction of the second source of magical power.

A few minutes later, he reached the shop just after the fourth source of magical power that he had sensed, who he saw was a teenager with blonde hair.

Naruto entered the shop just in time to hear the owner begin to talk about how it was the only magic store in town and mainly catered to travelling mages.

"We have some new items in. The ColorS Magic is particularly popular among the girls," the shop owner said, showing an object to the girl that resembled a book. Running his finger over it in a spot, he changed the color of his clothes. "It allows you to easily change the color of your clothes at will."

Naruto had to admit that it was an interesting object, though he did not really care about getting one of them.

"I already have that one," the girl replied. "What I'm really looking for are Celestial Spirit Keys. Strong ones."

Naruto was careful not to let his surprise show at that. He had not expected the girl to be a Celestial Spirit Mage. As he looked over her figure, he wondered if all Celestial Spirit Mages were attractive or if it was just a coincidence that Karen Lilica, Angel, and this girl were all fairly attractive and had rather large assets.

"Oh? Those are rare," the shop owner commented. "I'm afraid the only ones we have are the Gate of Canis Minor: Nikora."

"Really? I've been looking for that one!" the girl exclaimed cheerfully.

"It's not a very powerful one," the shop owner remarked.

"I know, but I've been looking for this one for a while," she said. "How much is it?"

"Twenty thousand jewels," the shop owner replied.

"How much is it really?" the blonde next to him asked, slightly unzipping her shirt.

Naruto resisted face-palming as he saw the girl was actually trying to get the shop owner to lower the prices with her sex appeal. Personally, he doubted she would get it to drop much. She was certainly attractive, but only an idiot would drop the price a great deal just based on how she looked. If she was offering something in lieu of payment, that would be one thing, but he saw innocence in the girl, so that was clearly not an option she intended to use.

In the end, the girl managed to get a one thousand jewel discount and left in a huff.

Once she was gone, Naruto made his way to the counter.

"What's that Nikora key good for?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Oh, girls like to keep them as pets," the shop owner answered. "They are not practical in use as anything else."

"I'd like to get one for my little sister then," Naruto said with a small smile. He could imagine Meredy's face when he gave it to her. It would be a while before he could actually give it to her due to the current situation, but she always wanted a pet. "And do you have anything else that I might actually find useful?"

The shop owner placed a second Nikora key on the counter and looked thoughtfully at the question. "I hate to admit it, but we aren't well equipped to outfit male mages, especially ones that are clearly experienced. Your magical power is certainly nothing to sneeze at."

Naruto simply nodded, expecting such a scenario. Up close, his magical power was easy to sense, so he was not really surprised that the shop owner could detect it either.

"Unless you want some basic books on magic, the only thing I can really think of that you might find useful is a pair of Gale Force Reading Glasses. I'd suggest perhaps getting some Magic Headphones, but we do not have any in stock. The magic shops in Crocus, Magnolia, and Oak Town should have them, but we don't."

"Do you have a pair that is imbued with Wind Magic?" Naruto asked, remembering a bit of conversation he had picked up a few months ago. That particular pair of glasses increased a person's reading speed by one hundred twenty times. They were not as popular due to the fact that they were not all that practical for non-wind mages, but Naruto was one, so they would be useful.

"I have a male pair of them in stock, actually," the shop owner answered happily. "Whereas the female version is pink with a wing surrounded by hearts on the left lens, the male version is black and only has a wing on the left lens. They both show the amount that it speeds your reading up on the right lens. If you're interested, it is thirty thousand jewels."

"I have the money right here," Naruto said as he removed his wallet and placed fifty thousand jewels on the bar. "And out of curiosity… is it possible to put in an order for a special item that you don't have in stock? It would be useful if I could just come back later on to pick something up from a shop I've been to instead of visiting new places."

"Yes, you actually can do that, but it only helps you if you know what you want before making your order," the shop owner answered with a nod. "I can special order anything from an empty lacrima to a stamp like the ones that are used by guilds to mark their members."

"Thanks for the information," Naruto said as he pocketed the key and the glasses, both of which were in protective cases.

With that, Naruto left the magic shop.

* * *

After leaving the magic shop, Naruto had dropped by a clothing store since he still had over half an hour before he needed to meet up with Jiraiya, so now he was making his way to the designated meeting spot in black boots, black pants, a sleeveless orange shirt, and a solid black jacket. He always liked the orange and black ensemble.

"I didn't know he was in town," he muttered after using his sensory abilities to try to see if Jiraiya was around yet. Instead of detecting his godfather, he ended up realizing that Natsu and Happy were in town. They were actually near the girl that he had seen in the magic shop, as a matter of fact.

Shaking his head away from such thoughts, he walked through the door of a bar near the docks.

Without paying any attention to the occupants, he headed to one of the backrooms where he knew Gaara was.

Upon arriving at the backroom, he saw that there was simply a large table in the room with chairs on each side of it. Gaara was sitting on one side, and Jiraiya was sitting on the other.

"You're pretty good at hiding your magical power," Naruto muttered as he took a seat next to Gaara.

"I have my talents," Jiraiya remarked, carefully looking at Naruto. "But before we talk about anything, I'm going to use Jutsu Shiki. It'll completely block this room off to the outside world. No one will be able to hear or sense us as long as we're in its barrier. That'll allow us to talk without worrying about eavesdroppers."

"Just do it," Naruto said, leaning back in his chair. He knew that Jiraiya could annihilate him and Gaara in a fight, so there was no reason for deception at this point.

"Jutsu Shiki," Jiraiya intoned with his right hand raised in a hand sign. A runic barrier formed around the walls, ceiling, and floor of the room in an instant. It was easy to see that he was talented with that magic by the ease he set the barrier up. "Now, what did you want to talk about? You went through a lot of trouble tracking me down. I don't even know how you got the note to Makarov and convinced him not to read it before he sent it to me."

"I snuck into his office and planted the note there. I asked him not to read it since I couldn't risk anyone finding out that I needed to talk to you, but I wasn't sure if he would actually listen," Naruto explained. "But anyways, we had a run in with Bluenote Stinger a month ago. It seems that Hades wants me dead now. That's why we destroyed the rest of the guilds that work under Grimoire Heart in Fiore. They were the only ones I know of, at least. I left Grimoire Heart nearly nine months ago now, so they could have new ones."

"I wondered why you started attacking those guilds, but I never imagined that you had to fight Bluenote," Jiraiya remarked. "I assume that you had to flee in your elemental forms."

"Yeah, we did injure him first though," Naruto answered with a nod. "I might not have been able to last long enough to get away if he had not wanted the Rasengan though."

"Oh? You've learned it already?" Jiraiya asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I learned it a month after I actually started trying to learn it," Naruto confirmed. "But what's strange is that he acted like he's seen it before. Have you fought him in the past?"

"No, I've never fought him," Jiraiya answered in confusion. "The only other one that he could have seen use it would be your father, but he never spoke of Bluenote to me."

"Oh well. It doesn't really matter, I guess," Naruto said with a shrug. "The reason I wanted to meet with you is because I know that you're pretty well-informed about almost everything that happens in Fiore, and we need to know where to find the bases of more dark guilds."

"So you want to use me," Jiraiya summed up. He sighed dramatically as Naruto and Gaara shared a look and nodded their heads in agreement. "Fine, I'll start digging that information up for you. I don't have any locations for you right now though. I haven't been too concerned about a few minor guilds in the past, but I can certainly discover where they're based fairly easily."

"I guess that'll work," Naruto sighed. He was a bit disappointed to hear that Jiraiya did not have any locations at the moment, but it was not completely unexpected.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your plan?" Jiraiya suddenly asked. "Do you really plan to just take out every dark guild you come across with just the two of you? That might work for the smaller guilds, but unless you each reach the level of someone like Rock Iron Jura, you're not going to stand a chance against the larger guilds. And if you did reach such a level, then in the face of Ouroboros, Raven Tail, Oracion Seis, Tartaros, and Grimoire Heart, you still wouldn't stand a chance. I'm a hell of a lot stronger than Jura, and I wouldn't even thing of single-handedly taking down one of those guilds. Even if you are stronger than anyone in one of those dark guilds, you still have to remember that numbers do matter in battle. Fighting against half a dozen S-class mages alone is not an easy matter, even for an SS-class mage."

Naruto frowned at that, while Gaara simply looked as though he had already thought about it.

"What do you suggest then?" Naruto asked. "I'm not going to step away from this path. I think this is what I was always meant to do."

"I never told you to step away from the path you're on. I support you, regardless of how you view me. It's why I arranged it so that the Magic Council dropped the charges on you for being a member of Grimoire Heart. I didn't have anything to do with them dropping the charges of assault on those Rune Knights though," Jiraiya said, shaking his head.

"I'm not wanted anymore?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"No, they dropped the last charges a week ago in recognition of everything you've done about dark guilds," Jiraiya answered, shaking his head. "But that's not the point. The point is that with just two people, you cannot succeed on this path. You'll need at least three, though I'd actually recommend no less than five members. At that point, you could call yourselves an independent guild, I suppose. You would not be a legal guild, but you'd clearly not be a dark guild either."

Naruto had to admit that he liked the sound of it. If he could get Zancrow, Ultear, and Meredy to one day leave Grimoire Heart, they would be good additions to such a group, but he doubted that he could get them to leave anytime soon.

"I'll think about what you said," Naruto conceded after a few moments. "We'll need to find some more people with similar goals to our own before we can start something like that up first."

"That's fine," Jiraiya said. "Just think about it. I'd hate to lose you because you tried to do too much on your own."

Naruto was careful not to make a sharp comment at that, knowing that it would do no good.

"I think we're done here," Naruto said as he rose to his feet.

"Hang on a second," Jiraiya said, catching Naruto's attention. "I'd suggest that you two spend some time training while I search for information. I actually heard a rumor that might help you in that regard, Naruto. I don't have anything for your friend, but I'm sure he can come up with something of his own."

Gaara merely nodded at that.

"What do you have?" Naruto asked with a sigh.

"I've heard rumors of another practitioner of Sky Magic," Jiraiya answered, making Naruto's eyes widen. "My information on this is limited, but it seems that the Sky Dragon Slayer is named Wendy Marvell and is part of Cait Shelter. I'd suggest that you head that way. Maybe she can help you out with your magic. That's all the information I have on her, so she could be a decrepit old woman for all I know. It can't hurt to at least see for yourself though."

"Where is Cait Shelter?" Naruto asked, clearly interested.

"Here's a map that will lead you there," Jiraiya said as he handed his godson a rolled up map. He then handed him a baseball-sized lacrima. "And I'll contact you through this lacrima when I have some information for you."

"Thanks," Naruto said stiffly as he took both objects. "I'll see you around."

Jiraiya merely sighed as he watched Naruto and Gaara leave the room. As expected, making up for his past mistakes was not going to be easy.

* * *

"So, what are you going to work on while we take this little break?" Naruto asked as they neared the area where Cait Shelter's guild hall was supposedly located at.

"It is imperative that I begin working on increasing the speed at which I can alter the properties of my sand," Gaara replied. "I must also begin working on my Sand God Slayer Magic. My decision to only resort to it as a last resort has made it so that I am too inexperienced with it."

"Have you thought about filling your gourd with your black sand?" Naruto asked suddenly. "You said that your black sand is naturally harder than iron, which is why a shield made of it is stronger than a shield made of the specially hardened sand that you keep in your gourd. What if you filled your gourd with your black sand and used it to power some of your Sand Magic spells? It would probably make them a lot stronger."

"It is certainly an idea worth considering," Gaara remarked, sounding fairly interested in seeing how it would work. "And if I may ask, what is it that you hope to accomplish by seeking out this Sky Dragon Slayer? Your skill with your magic is already impressive."

"I stole a tome on Sky God Slayer Magic, but it's missing some pages. Those pages are from the part of the book that goes over support magic. Sky Magic is a really cool type of magic, really. It gives you offensive and support-type spells that are pretty useful when you combined them. But at the moment, healing is my only support-type spell. If I find a Sky Dragon Slayer that knows other support-type spells, I might be able to get them to teach them to me. All I have to do is tell the guild master that I want to hire the mage to teach me as a job. We have more than enough money as it is," Naruto explained. "If it turns out that she has nothing to teach me or she refuses the job, we can just leave and train elsewhere. There are still two more God Slayer's Secret Art spells that I haven't learned yet, and I'm still trying to combine the Rasengan with my Sky God Slayer Magic."

"Perhaps it is for the best that we spend some time training then," Gaara noted. "Have you given any thought to the possibility of an independent guild?"

"Yeah, I have," Naruto answered vaguely. "Do you know of anyone who might want to join such a guild?"

"I do not think so," Gaara said dryly. "I have a brother and a sister, but they were terrified me even before I killed my father. I have not seen them in years anyways, so they may very well be dead by now."

"That's a cheerful outlook," Naruto remarked as sarcastically as possible.

"It would appear that we are here," Gaara pointed out, looking at what appeared to be a small village. There was a building that resembled a cat among them. Three nearby flags showed the symbols of Cait Shelter, Fiore, and the Magic Council.

"Let's go and visit the guild master then," Naruto said as he sped up his pace.

* * *

Naruto's first impression of Cait Shelter's guild master was that Roubaul was a very unusual man.

Within moments of arriving at his office to speak to him, he had already poured himself a glass of alcohol to drink, only to drink straight from the bottle. He then proceeded to begin talking without actually swallowing the drink, making it spill all over him.

"So you want Wendy to teach you magic since you possess a similar type?" the eccentric guild master asked after Naruto explained why he was there. He appeared to be writing something down on a piece of paper as he waited for an answered.

"Yeah, Sky Magic is pretty rare, so I figure maybe she can show me a few things that I don't know about it," Naruto answered, not sure why Roubaul was looking at him so strangely.

"If you're sure, you can take this to her. She's in a field to the south of the guild," Roubaul said with a hint of mirth in his eyes as he handed Naruto the piece of paper that he had written on earlier.

"Okay, thanks," Naruto said as he took the piece of paper and turned to leave.

"Good luck," Roubaul called out with a laugh as Naruto and Gaara left the room.

"What do you think that was about?" Naruto asked once they were outside of the building.

"There is only one way to see," Gaara replied with a shrug.

It did not take Naruto long to see exactly why Roubaul had been so amused.

The moment they reached the field to the south of the guild, Naruto saw a white female cat similar to Happy and a twelve year old girl with long blue hair.

"Who are you?" the cat said as she stared at them with narrowed eyes.

"Are you Wendy?" Naruto asked with a sigh, looking at the girl. He held up the piece of paper that he had been given as he asked the question.

The little girl blinked before nodding her head.

"Here you go," Naruto said as he handed the paper to the girl.

"You want me to teach you?" Wendy asked in disbelief, earning a look of shock from the cat.

Gaara's lips appeared to be twitching at this point.

"If there's anything that you can teach me, then yeah, I would," Naruto answered, having a hard time believing that he was actually asking a little kid for help. "I thought you were older than this, but there might still be something you know that I don't."

"How could she possibly teach you? She's the Sky Dragon Slayer, as you obviously know. She can't teach a regular mage anything," the cat asked protectively.

"I'm not a normal mage," Naruto replied. "I am the Sky God Slayer."

"A God Slayer?" Wendy whispered to herself.

"That's a stupid lie," the cat muttered. "There's no such thing as-"

"Sky God's Bellow," Naruto suddenly said, looking to the side as he suddenly shot a twister of black wind from his mouth. It flew into the nearby woods and carved a path through them.

"Such power," the cat whispered in shock.

"That's so much more powerful than my magic. There's no way I could help you," Wendy said timidly. "I'm no good at fighting. I'm only good at healing and support."

"I was going to hire you to help me, but perhaps we can make a deal. I'll help you with fighting if you'll help me with my support-type spells. The only support-type spell I have is healing, and it can still use some improving," Naruto offered.

"I can try," Wendy replied nervously. "I'm not sure how much help I'll be though."

"Even if you can't help me, I'll still help you if you want me to. I've met another dragon slayer, and he said that his dragon left seven years ago. If yours did the same, then you had to have been five at the time. I'd definitely be willing to help you finish your training in that case," Naruto said seriously.

"Okay, I accept," Wendy said with a small smile.

"But Wendy…." the cat began.

"Carla, I have to do this," Wendy said, shaking her head. She looked at Naruto at this point. "When do we start?"

"We can start right now," Naruto answered. "Come at me with everything you've got. I'll need to see how strong you are and what you're capable of doing in a fight before I try to teach you anything."

"You can do it, Wendy," Carla said, seeing that she was starting to look timid again. "If he's too weak to deal with your attacks, you can always heal him."

Gaara actually snorted at that.

"Naruto, I'm going to go elsewhere to train. I will see you shortly," Gaara said as he turned to sand and drifted away in the air.

"That's so cool," Wendy whispered.

"If you're not going to make the first move, I will," Naruto stated with a raised eyebrow.

That was all it took to get Wendy to start moving.

* * *

Author's Note: At first, this was a fairly short chapter to write. But then, I ended up editing it when I decided to take Chapter 10 into a slightly different direction. If you read it when it was titled "Hargeon", then it's important to keep in mind that I added two new scenes.

I'm sure this isn't necessary to point out, but this chapter began on the same day that canon started. Lucy was the girl Naruto saw in the magic shop, Bora was one of the mages Naruto sensed in town, and Natsu and Happy were actually arriving by train around the time Naruto entered the magic shop. So we're now officially at the canon storyline.

I won't be showing too much of Naruto and Wendy's time together either. The main reason is that I don't think I could make Naruto and Wendy's interactions so entertaining to last a full chapter, let alone several.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing.


	10. Back in Business

Author's Note: I don't normally do a pre-chapter A/N, but it's necessary this time. If you read Chapter 9 when it had the title "Hargeon", you need to go back to it. I added two scenes at the end of the chapter and gave it a new title. If you read this without reading them, you will definite miss something.

* * *

**10. Back in Business**

_-August 1, X784_

"It's about damn time," Naruto muttered as he looked at the glowing lacrima on the coffee table. He was sitting in a cabin to the southeast of Cait Shelter that had been loaned to Naruto and Gaara while the former trained Wendy Marvell.

It had been nearly a full month since he had asked Jiraiya for his help in locating dark guilds through the land, and they had yet to receive any word from the man.

Gaara took a seat next to Naruto without saying a word, wishing to hear what the man had to say.

"Sorry for the delay," Jiraiya said as his face appeared in the lacrima. "If you're still at Cait Shelter, I doubt you're up with recent events, but there was an issue that complicated matters for me. The dark guild known as Eisenwald got their hands on Lullaby, one of Zeref's demons. Fairy Tail ended up stopping them from unleashing it upon the guild masters at one of their regular meetings, but it made some of the dark guilds try to lay low. It made it rather difficult to find out where every dark guild in Fiore is."

"Did you just say that you know where every dark guild in Fiore is?" Naruto asked in surprise. The information about Lullaby surprised him a great deal as well, but it was nothing compared to the information Jiraiya claimed to have.

"Well, I don't know where the headquarters of Tartaros, Oracion Seis, or Grimoire Heart are, or if they are even in Fiore at the moment. Other than those three though? Yeah, I have them all clearly labeled on a map. The number is currently just over a hundred, though some of them are pretty small," Jiraiya answered.

"When can we get it from you?" Naruto eagerly asked. He had enjoyed the past thirty days of training, but he hated knowing that dark guilds were free to do as they please without even thinking about the possibility that they would be destroyed.

"I can't meet up with you anytime soon, actually," Jiraiya said, shaking his head. "I'm busy looking into Oracion Seis and what they're planning. The Lullaby Incident has me worried that they are planning something big. I gave the map to a trusted friend though. She's at Akane Resort right now, and she'll be there for at least a couple more days. Head that way, and she'll give you the map."

"And who is this woman?" Naruto questioned with a sigh. He really did not want information like that getting out to just anyone.

"She's trustworthy. Just look for the person who is losing the most money in the casino there, and you'll be sure to find her pretty easily," Jiraiya replied with a chuckle. "By the way, how did the lead on the Sky Dragon Slayer pan out?"

"You sent him to a twelve year old girl for training," Gaara answered for Naruto.

Jiraiya blinked before he busted up laughing. "Sorry about that kid. It's a shame it didn't help you any."

"Who said it didn't?" Naruto retorted. "I actually learned a few things from her, though she learned more from me. She actually started to call me _Master Naruto_ a few days after we first started training, but I put a stop to that."

"I could use that… but I'll need to change the ages big time," Jiraiya said with a perverse giggle.

"Is there anything else that you want to tell us?" Naruto asked with a sigh. He knew that dealing with a perverted man was not that horrible if he was getting the type of information that Jiraiya claimed to have.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to inform you that you both have bounties on your heads now. After Bluenote Stinger reported his failure, I'm guessing that your old master arranged to have a bounty put in place on both of your heads. It's the type that only independent dark mages, dark guilds, and assassin guilds would try to collect on, but you should still be careful," Jiraiya replied with a frown. "With that in mind, I don't suppose you'd be willing to give me any information on Grimoire Heart now, would you?"

"Fairy Tail is the only legal guild that could potentially defeat them," Naruto said, looking down. "I don't want to say anymore for now. Ask me again in person, and I might tell you a little more. But in turn, you get to tell me why you left me in Konoha instead of asking Makarov or someone else in Fairy Tail to take care of me. You're clearly on good terms with most of the older generation in Fairy Tail, after all."

With those words, he shut off the connection and rose to his feet. "Get everything ready. I'm going to go and tell Wendy that we have to leave. After that, I'll meet you at the road south of here."

Gaara merely nodded in response.

* * *

"You're late," Carla noted in annoyance the moment that Naruto arrived.

"Sorry about that, Wendy," Naruto apologized, not even sparing the cat a glance. "I got a call from an acquaintance through my Communication Lacrima, and I had to answer it. The call was actually one I've been waiting on. It's time for me and Gaara to leave."

Wendy looked down at those words. "Why do you have to leave? We've had lots of fun, and you've taught me so much." She looked up with teary eyes as she finished speaking.

"Wendy, you've become like a little sister to me in the last month," Naruto said as he walked up to her and gave her a hug. "But Gaara and I… we can't stay here. We don't walk down the same path. It's our responsibility to protect good people like you from dark mages. It's not something we can walk away from, and you know this. I told you about this a couple weeks ago so you would know that I would have to leave before too long."

"It's still hard," Wendy whispered. "You're the closest thing to family I've had since Grandeeney left."

"That's not true," Naruto whispered back. "You have that annoying prude of a furball. She's like a grandmother with her constant nagging."

Wendy giggled at that as she broke the hug and wiped her eyes.

Naruto glanced at Carla and saw a disproving scowl.

"Have confidence in yourself, Wendy. If you do, you'll become great as a mage and a woman one day," Naruto said as he turned away from her. "And if anyone tries to pick on you, just remember everything that I taught you."

With those words, he made his way away from the field and towards where Gaara would be.

As he walked, he fondly remembered his time training Wendy.

Her expression upon learning that he could heal himself when she lacked the ability to self-heal flashed before his eyes.

His annoyance and Carla's smirk upon Wendy revealing that she could restore a patient's fatigue and body stress while he lacked the ability to do so to himself or to others flashed before his eyes after that.

Dozens of members came after that, including the one that had surprised him most of all: when Wendy ate his black wind after her magical power had become almost completely depleted.

"I'll miss you," he whispered with a smile on his face.

He picked up his pace at that moment, not wanting to be tempted to stay any longer.

* * *

It did not take them long to reach their destination due to the surprising speed that the pair was capable of, along with the stamina that enabled them to continue at a rather high speed for a long duration.

"Do you realize that I was here five months ago? We met right after I left, as a matter of fact," Naruto mused as he walked alongside Gaara through the entrance of Akane Resort.

"Yes, I remember it very well," Gaara answered dryly. He was never one to enjoy being reminded of his defeats, even by his one and only friend.

"I was bored as hell before that day, so I'm pretty glad that we met when we did," Naruto said with a grin. "I'm amazed that you still rarely show emotion though. I usually have a bigger effect on people."

"Would you prefer that I become a homicidal maniac that crushes people with his sand and rants about how some demonic entity that I refer to as _mother_ wants their blood?" Gaara asked. Immediately after he said that, he wondered where it even came from.

"You have a pretty strange imagination," Naruto chuckled. "Let's just head over to the casino though. The sooner we get that map, the happier I'll be."

"Yes, I am eager as well," Gaara said in a monotone voice that made Naruto stared at him in disbelief.

"You're just screwing with me now," he muttered.

"Yes… yes, I am," Gaara agreed, making Naruto start laughing.

"Wow, you've really developed a sense of humor in the last few months," Naruto chuckled as they headed towards the casino.

Upon arriving at the casino, Naruto muttered, "He just likes to mess with me, doesn't he?"

Sitting at a poker table, Naruto saw a woman that he recognized from pictures in the past. Wearing a green coat with the kanji for _gamble_ on the back of it and with her blond hair tied in pigtails, there was no mistaking who the woman was. Jiraiya had entrusted the map to Tsunade of the Legendary Three Mages.

"This is unexpected," Gaara agreed.

The pair quickly made their way over to the table at that point.

"Hey, I-" Naruto began, only to be glared at by Tsunade.

"Shut it, kid. I'm trying to play a game," she said sharply before turning back to the table.

"Fine," Naruto grumbled as he took a seat. "Deal me in."

"You don't even have any chips," Tsunade remarked.

"I don't need any," Naruto said as he removed a stack of jewels and placed them on the table. He looked at the dealer before speaking again. "Just deal me in. I know you've seen me before, so you know that I'll have a stack full of chips in the next five minutes."

"Shit, it's you," the dealer muttered as she began to deal him in.

Tsunade watched the exchange with a frown.

That frown grew even bigger over the next five minutes as Naruto won every single hand that he played.

"I wouldn't have played if you had been willing to talk," Naruto commented as he revealed another winning hand. "We just want the map that Jiraiya gave you."

Tsunade's eyes widened at that. "You're his godson?"

Naruto snorted at the question. "That damned fool need to stop telling people that. If he wanted me to be his godson, then he should have actually looked after me. But yeah, I'm the one he told you about."

"He made a mistake, but it could have been worse. If you were raised by that pervert, you'd probably be peeking on girls when they bathe," Tsunade said with a shake of her head.

"Yeah, that's so much worse than living in a park and starving in the middle of October," Naruto retorted. "Just give me the map, and we'll be out of your hair."

"Fine," Tsunade said as a rolled up map appeared in her hand and she held it out to him. "Try not to die, kid. The only reason I'm willing to hand you this map is because you're making my husband's job a little easier by incapacitating them and telling the Rune Knights where to pick them up at. It would be annoying if you were unable to keep doing that."

"Yeah, whatever you say," Naruto said as he took the map and rose to his feet. "You can have my chips as thanks."

He turned and made his way out of the casino at that point when Gaara following him.

"What was that last part about?" Gaara asked, knowing that it would be for the best that he ignored Naruto's commented about his past.

Naruto looked at him curiously as he went back over the conversation. "Oh, you don't know who her husband is? She married Dan Kato about twenty years ago. His official title is Knight-Commander of the Rune Knights. He's the guy that every other Rune Knight answers to. The only guy that he answers to is the Chairman of the Magic Council."

"You are well informed," Gaara noted.

"I just like to know who I shouldn't piss off," Naruto said with a shrug. "That's one reason I was almost polite to her. She could probably liquefy my internal organs with a single punch. Her strength is something she's well known for."

"If that was almost polite, I am not sure that I want to see what you consider rude," Gaara remarked, earning a chuckle from Naruto.

* * *

"What do you think?" Tsunade asked as she appeared in her hotel room and looked at her husband, who was standing next to the window.

"They are very interesting individuals," Dan remarked as he looked at her. "I can see why Jiraiya suggested that I be here when they met with you. Minato's son is a great deal like his mother. He is disrespectful to the extent that he can aggravate someone but without actually making them snap. His magical power is greater than his mother's was at that age though. In fact, I'd estimate that it's only a little below that of Laxus Dreyar. Not many guilds have mages like him though."

"Yes, he is rather impressive for a kid that isn't even eighteen years old yet," Tsunade agreed.

"His friend was nearly as impressive as well," Dan commented. "I'm not sure if you sensed it, but the magical power within that gourd on his back… I never expected that. Given that his partner is often said to crush the legs of his opponents with sand, I think it's safe to assume that the gourd is filled with some kind of special sand. It would account for the incredible magical power at the very least."

"I thought it was just my imagination, but you are more skilled at sensing magical power, especially when you use your magic," Tsunade replied. "Do you think it was wise for us to allow them to have that map? Your Rune Knights could have used it instead."

"In order to mobilize that many Rune Knights at once, I would need the permission of the Magic Council, and I suspect that there is a leak among the members of it. Jiraiya wouldn't have asked us to give the map to Naruto Uzumaki if he could not handle such an endeavor, so I am choosing to have faith in your old teammate," Dan said with a shake of his head.

"I suppose you're right," Tsunade sighed. "I'm just a little worried about what we'll happen to him. He wouldn't be the first person to die fighting dark mages."

Dan was not sure what to say at this point, knowing that she was thinking of how her little brother had died at the hands of dark mages.

"If there is anyone that understands dark mages, it would be someone like Naruto, who has been one before," Dan stated after a few moments. "As it is, he has taken down fifty dark guilds, and twenty of those were done without any help. How many men and women can claim to have aided in the defeat of even half as many dark guilds?"

"Very few," Tsunade conceded. She knew that other than his partner, no one close to his age had even taken part in the defeat of twenty dark guilds, including Rune Knights and S-class guild mages.

"Now, I need to leave before my absence is noticed. I'm sure that the Chairman would be very displeased if he learned that I left Era without informing him. I'll see you when you get back from your vacation," Dan said with a warm smile.

With that, he simply disappeared.

"I hope he's right," she said as she began to fade away. She was actually just a Thought Projection. The real Tsunade was still downstairs gambling.

* * *

Author's Note: And here's another complete chapter. I wasn't completely happy with it as I wrote it, but I think I'm just a little too excited about my next chapter. This chapter actually would have been longer than it is, but I felt that the first 1.5k words worked better added to the end of Chapter 9.

Anyways, it's pretty good finishing ten chapters in eight days in my opinion, even if they are only 3-4k word chapters. I never really expected to get so much written in this story so quickly. Normally I get about five to seven chapters into a story before I lost interest. This is very different from anything I've written before, so that may have something to do with it.

Now, I'm surprised no one has asked this yet, but I'm bringing it up anyways. As I'm sure everyone's noticed, I have not used the word _Sannin_ in this story at all. Instead, I've called them _the Legendary Three Mages_. In canon, they are actually _Densetsu no Sannin_ or _the Legendary Three Ninja_. Given that they aren't ninja in Earthland, they can't be the Sannin. If I wanted to use the Japanese term for the three in a world of mages, _Sanmadoshi_ is pretty much the closest I could get to it, but that just doesn't sound as good to me. Anyways, in an English-dominant world like Earthland seems to be for the most part, I'm just going to stick with _the Legendary Three Mages_. I'm assuming no one has a problem with it since it has yet to be mentioned.

Also, I'd like to say that I've made a decision that I had not originally planned. After this chapter, I'm doing a two and half month time-skip. I decided to cut some filler material out of the plan by doing this. Overall, you aren't really missing anything important. It'll actually put Chapter 11 at the start of the main plotline of the story. It'll quickly become evident what I mean when you start reading the next chapter.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing.


	11. The Shot Heard Around the World

**11. The Shot Heard Around the World**

_-October 9, X784_

"Is it me, or have they gotten weaker?" Naruto asked as he looked around at the unconscious mages around them.

"This is the forty-third time that you have asked that," Gaara said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "If you do not wish to take them out so fast, then perhaps you should stop using Vernier."

"But if I don't, you'll just break their legs with your sand," Naruto pointed out. "As boring as this is, that's even more boring."

In the last two months, the pair had taken out forty-six dark guilds, not including the current one. In the face of overwhelming opposition, none of the dark guilds had stood a chance. In fact, some of the dark guilds that they visited actually surrendered to them rather than endure a beating at Naruto and Gaara's hands.

Other than Bluenote, the pair had not actually come in contact with any members of Grimoire Heart, Tartaros, Oracion Seis, Ouroboros, or Raven Tail during their time together, but they knew that they had at least attracted the attention of those powerful guilds. They currently had a combined bounty of fifteen million jewels on their heads. Seeing as how Naruto had taken down twenty dark guilds on his own and then had worked with Gaara to take down seventy-seven dark guilds together, it was easy to see why they were wanted dead by those powerful guilds.

As Naruto began to use Drain on the enemy mages, he wondered if he was going to be able to find anyone to recruit to the independent guild that he and Gaara had been planning on forming.

After the Fairy Tail-Phantom Lord guild war, he had considered seeking out a member of the now disbanded Phantom Lord to recruit, but there had been some issues there.

Jose Porla would have been a good choice for his power, but he was clearly a vain man that was too prideful to accept such a request and too selfish to consider using his power to help others. Frankly, Naruto thought he was destined for a life as a dark mage now that his guild was disbanded.

Aria of the Element Four could have been a good choice as well due to his power, but Naruto disproved of his methods and thought the guy was a little too weird for his tastes. His loyalty to Jose would not have allowed him to consider joining anyways.

He had only considered Totomaru and Sol of the Element Four for a short time, but he eventually decided that they were too weak and did not have the right disposition. Sol would have only been useful due to his ability to create sand for Gaara to eat.

Juvia of the Element Four was someone that he had considered heavily. She was the second strongest member in the Element Four from what he could tell, and her disposition was great. In the end, he had decided not to approach her though. He suspected that she intended to join Fairy Tail, if her habit of stalking Gray Fullbuster and wearing a Fairy Tail necklace were any indication.

Gajeel Redfox was the only other Phantom Lord mage that he had considered. He definitely had the power to join, and he reminded Naruto of Zancrow in some ways. He had ended up approaching the Iron Dragon Slayer, but Gajeel refused the offer immediately after the words _independent guild_ were mentioned.

It was rather difficult finding someone to recruit when he had to be sure that they were strong enough to handle the unexpected challenges that could pop up, along with possessing sufficient motivation to keep fighting against dark guilds. It would be bad if someone joined and decided to quit a little ways down the road.

"I'll put in the call," Naruto said as he broke away from that train of thoughts. He removed his Communication Lacrima from his jacket pocket and activated it.

Dan Kato's head appeared in the lacrima within moments.

"This isn't a great time," Dan remarked within seconds of answering the call. "I can send a few men to your position, but that's all I can spare right now."

"What's going on?" Naruto asked with a frown.

"I shouldn't be saying this, but the Magic Council is debating firing Etherion," Dan answered quietly. "I'm not privy to the meeting, but I know that they almost have enough votes."

"I feel sorry for the poor bastards that get hit by that thing," Naruto commented with a whistle, completely unaware of how connected to the situation he was. "I'll give you the directions so you can get some men here." He proceeded to give detailed directions to his location.

"Thanks," Dan said, looking down at something that could not be seen through the lacrima. "You've been a great help in the last several months. If you need anything, just contact me."

"Sure thing. I'll talk to you later," Naruto replied as he deactivated the lacrima.

Gaara looked at Naruto once the call ended. "We should go. The longer we stay here, the greater chance of Oracion Seis showing up. The last thing we need to do is to face a member of the Balam Alliance on our own."

"Right," Naruto said with a nod. He knew that they could at least take out Angel, Racer, Hoteye, and Cobra, but he was not certain that they could take out Brain and Midnight yet. If it was just those two, then they could likely beat them with their teamwork, but Naruto suspected that Brain was stronger than him, individually.

The pair shifted to sand and wind as they left the headquarters of the dark guild.

* * *

Several hours after leaving the headquarters of the last dark guild that they dealt with, Naruto and Gaara were nearing Magnolia. They usually avoided going to towns with guilds, but Naruto wanted to stop by Magnolia's magic shop before they headed to their next destination.

"Gaara, I'd like you to go on without me for a little while," Naruto said with a frown as he felt a familiar magical power near him. "I can handle this on my own."

Gaara looked at Naruto carefully before he nodded and began to walk toward Magnolia without him.

Once Gaara was out of sight, Naruto turned around.

"What in the hell are you doing here, Ultear?" Naruto asked with narrowed eyes.

"You don't sound very pleased to see me," his former comrade remarked with crossed arms.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at her pleasant tone. He had expected her to hate him, but she looked as beautiful and kind as she had always been to him. There was no hint of dislike in her expression at all.

"The last Grimoire Heart mage that I ran into was Bluenote," Naruto said dryly. "I'm still wondering if you're going to attack me."

Ultear smiled at that. "You've always been careful. The only time I've ever seen you completely let your guard down was when you were stepping between an attack and a comrade."

Naruto just stared at her with analytical eyes. "Cut the flattery, Ultear. You have always been talented, especially at manipulating people. It's something I used to admire about you. You could have convinced someone like _Shinigami_ Erigor into donating to charity and made him think it was his idea in the first place. But it's kind of like Charm Magic. It only works if you're not expecting it."

"This time, there's no manipulation. You know me too well for something like that to work, so I won't even try," Ultear replied, shaking her head. "No, I'm here because I want your help."

Out of all the reasons she could be there, that was the last one he had ever imagined.

"Did Hades send you?" Naruto asked. He doubted that he had done such a thing, but that would mean that she was planning to betray Grimoire Heart.

"No, he has no idea that I am here. I stopped on my way to the airship. Under his orders, I've blown my cover," Ultear answered, shaking her head.

Naruto's eyes widened at that. "Dan said that the Council was voting on firing Etherion."

"I had my suspicions that you were in contact with Knight-Commander Dan Kato, but I was not certain," Ultear said with a smirk. "That was part of Jellal's plan though. To power the R-System tower, or the Tower of Heaven as he calls it, he needed Etherion to be fired at it. As soon as that was done, he ceased his charade as a member of the Magic Council." She noticed the confused look on his face at that. "Ah, you were not informed that Siegrain of the Magic Council was actually Jellal, were you? Regardless, the tower absorbed the power of Etherion, and I used my Arc of Time to destroy the Magic Council's headquarters. I may or may not be a wanted woman by now. It really just depends on whether the Magic Council has been ordered to disband yet or not."

Before she had even brought it up, Naruto had realized that the Magic Council would disband, even if it had not done so yet. He was well aware of how difficult it would make his job too. Without the Magic Council, there would be no Rune Knights, and without either group of people, there would be no one to keep dark mages imprisoned. Every dark mage that was currently imprisoned would likely be moved to the prisons that were maintained by Fiore's military. Within a week, most of them would probably escape. Regular prisons were not designed to hold mages, after all.

"Why are you here, Ultear?"

The simple question had to be asked, and it was easy to see that he wanted the simple answer, not the run around that she was trying to give him.

"There is only one more key left, and we will have it before too long. Once we have all of the keys, we can awaken Zeref and bring about the Ultimate World of Magic. There is one problem though. Hades fashions himself as a ruler. Once we bring about the Ultimate World of Magic, he will position himself as Zeref's second-in-command and try to control us all," Ultear said, making Naruto start to see what she was planning. "If we were to act in time, however, we could deal with him before we actually awaken Zeref, and then we could do anything that we want. Endless power would be at our fingertips. And if you were to join me, I know that Zancrow would come with you. Your other friend could too. What do you say?"

"Do you still believe that lie he told you?" Naruto asked, making her stop in her tracks. "You and I both know that you want the Ultimate World of Magic in order to complete your Arc of Time. But if you had the power to turn back time completely, the Ultimate World of Magic would disappear since it's not in the past. Do you really think Hades would give you magic that would let you go back in time to when the Ultimate World of Magic doesn't exist? After all of the effort he's put into his plans, there's no way he'd let you take that away from him."

"I find that it is more likely that he plans to kill me before we bring about the Ultimate World of Magic," Ultear said, looking down at the ground. "I'm sorry for trying to trick you, but that's the real reason that I want your help. Together, we could kill Hades and Bluenote, and then we could turn back time far enough that he doesn't even know who we are. We'd keep all of our memories, so we could stop things from happening this way again."

Naruto sighed at this point. He was not surprised at all by her words or the intent behind them. "Ultear, your innocent act… it doesn't work on me. To be honest, I think you might be right about him planning to kill you before he can bring about the Ultimate World of Magic, but not everything leads to Zeref being awakened. If you fear that he will kill you, then leave Grimoire Heart like I did. Take Meredy with you, and just leave. You are always welcome to join me if you do, but I will not help awaken the Black Mage or kill ninety percent of the world, even if it was possible to undo it with your magic."

"I had hoped that you would join me, but nothing matters more to me than fixing the mistake I made," Ultear said with a frown.

"That's not true," Naruto chuckled. "Meredy matters more to you, and we both know it. She's like a sister to you, though I'd probably say _daughter_ if you were older or she was younger. If you had to choose between going back to before your mother abandoned you and Meredy being alive, you'd choose Meredy any day. We both know that."

Ultear turned around at that point and began to walk away.

She began to speak within moments of walking away, and he had to strain to hear every word. "You have changed in some ways, but you are mostly the same boy that I've known for years. You have a strong heart and you never give up on those that you love. It is for that reason that I am walking away without trying to fight you. A serious fight between us would end in one of our deaths, so I am content to leave you alive. I trust you will keep most of this conversation secret though."

"Ultear, catch," Naruto said as he suddenly removed something from his pocket and threw it to her.

She spun around and snatched what he threw with ease. She looked confused as she saw that it was a silver key.

"When you and Meredy turn away from the path you're on, give that to her for me, and tell her that it's a present from her brother. Until then, you can keep a hold of it," Naruto called out before he turned away from her.

Ultear looked at the key for several moments before she pocketed it and turned away from him again.

In silence, the former comrades began to walk in separate directions, not sparing a glance at the other as they did so.

* * *

Upon arriving in Magnolia, Naruto found Jiraiya and Gaara in the park.

It was rather strange to see them sitting in a park, but he walked up to them without commenting on it.

"Naruto, you won't believe what happened in Era two hours ago," Jiraiya began.

"Are you referring to the firing of Etherion on the R-System tower, Ultear's destruction of the Magic Council's headquarters, and the possible disbandment of the Magic Council?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya and Gaara looked stunned at the question.

"I just ran into Ultear," Naruto explained, making Jiraiya look alarmed.

"You say her name like you know her," Jiraiya noted.

Naruto looked vaguely amused at that statement. "She is the leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, so I'd say that I know her."

"You knew that a high-ranking member of Grimoire Heart was posing as a Council member, and you just decided to keep it a secret?" Jiraiya asked incredulously.

"I did tell you that I'd tell you more about them if you answered my question," Naruto pointed out. "It's your fault for not meeting me sooner and telling me what made you decide to leave me in Konoha."

"Naruto, you don't understand," Jiraiya sighed. "If anyone learns of the link between you and Ultear and discovers that you kept it a secret, you will be charged with treason, much like the two members that betrayed the Magic Council will be. The Magic Council was disbanded about an hour ago due to almost instant backlash, but I have no doubt that it'll be reformed by the end of the month. They might not be so accommodating with you two either. Hell, I'd be surprised if they didn't do a background check on you both. If they learn of your pasts, you cannot count on the ruling of a disbanded Council to get you out of trouble. They can overrule any decision that was made previously, meaning that the immunity that the Council gave you from your past in the guild when they dismissed the charges and worded it the way they did… that's pretty much gone already."

"Then we just have to make sure no one finds out about our pasts," Naruto said with a shrug. He was not even about to ask how Jiraiya knew of Gaara's past. The man was skilled at obtaining information, after all.

"That's easier said than done," Jiraiya remarked. "Regardless, I'd suggest that you two take some time off until the Magic Council is reformed. You'll run yourselves ragged if you keep up your pace, and your previous methods won't be effective if there's no Rune Knights to capture the incapacitated mages."

"Fine," Naruto grumbled. He had to admit that Jiraiya had a point though.

"Gaara, can you leave me alone with my bull-headed godson?" Jiraiya asked as he looked at the sand user. "I'd like to answer his question in private."

Gaara nodded as he rose to his feet. He looked at Naruto and asked, "Would you like me to pick something up for you?"

"I'll get it myself. That way, I can get exactly what I want," Naruto said, waving his friend off. "Thanks for the offer though."

With a nod, Gaara made his way out of the park.

Once he was out of earshot, Jiraiya sighed audibly.

"Kid, I'm sorry that I didn't leave you with a member of Fairy Tail. I've regretted that decision for a while now, but I can't change the past. All I can do is try to make up for how I've failed you. I'll tell you why I did not leave you with a Fairy Tail mage now if you really want to know."

Naruto looked at Jiraiya in interest at that.

"I hate to say it, but I asked Sarutobi to watch over you in an attempt to protect you. Yeah, I know that that I failed in that regard, but I was worried that someone would realize that you were Minato's kid if I was seen having anything to do with you. I feared that whoever killed him would come after you, or you would be targeted by someone that hated him or just wanted to get their hands on a kid that had his blood flowing through their veins," Jiraiya explained. "Orochimaru probably would have tried to kidnap you and raise you as his tool. The Magic Council wouldn't have been much better either. I think that they probably would have tried to take custody of you and train you to be their weapon. I won't even mention the groups of people that would have tried to kill you in an attempt to get revenge on Minato."

"When you're logical, it's hard to hate you," Naruto muttered under his breath. "I don't think I really blame you for leaving me there, even before you answered my question. That doesn't mean I find it easy to think of you as my godfather though. When you've never had family before, it's hard to think of something you barely know as such."

"I understand what you mean to an extent," Jiraiya admitted. "I was an orphan, actually. I had no idea what to think when your parents decided to make you my godson. I had never had any family before, so I had absolutely no idea what that meant for me."

The pair sat there in silence for a while before Naruto spoke again.

"Give me your word that the information I give you on Grimoire Heart will never reach anyone that will hurt Zancrow and Meredy beyond what's to be expected in a fight, and I'll share some of what I know."

Jiraiya looked surprised, but he nodded. "I promise."

"In Grimoire Heart, there are only nine mages worth mentioning, but there is an object that you need to know about. If you know about it, you can come out on top of a fight with the Master of Grimoire Heart. I could even beat him if I could reach the object before he kills me," Naruto sighed. "What do you want to know first?"

"What is Grimoire Heart's goal?" Jiraiya asked, surprising him.

"To obtain the keys to awaken Zeref," Naruto replied, making Jiraiya look far more alarmed than he had ever seen him before. "Hades claims to know that he is alive for certain, and he believes that he can bring about the Ultimate World of Magic, a state of existence where only mages can survive."

"Is Hades the guild master's real name?" Jiraiya asked once he calmed down.

"No, his real name is… actually, I don't think I should tell you. It would probably demoralize anyone in Fairy Tail that you told. If you want to know the names and abilities of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, then I'll tell you, but I have no intention of sharing information on anyone's pasts," Naruto stated. "But, there is something you should know. Ultear has a connection with Gray Fullbuster and Lyon Vastia. I'm sure you can figure it out with just that information."

"Are you serious?" Jiraiya asked, once again caught unaware. "She's the daughter of Ur, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is. Don't ask me anymore about her though," Naruto said as he looked away.

Jiraiya began to ask more generic questions about the Seven Kin of Purgatory at that point, making Naruto look very relieved.

The conversation lasted for about fifteen minutes before the two headed in different directions.

* * *

Author's Note: And that's a wrap. I think the chapter came out pretty well, despite my inability to come up with a decent title. With my difficulty at coming up with titles, you'd think I'd stick with just number titles instead of ones with names.

Here's a tidbit of information about this chapter that you might find interesting: I never planned on this being Chapter 11. I intended to skip directly to the Oracion Seis Arc, but I realized that I really should show Naruto learning about the Etherion Incident, along with having another Ultear scene. Given that it's eleven chapters in and the pairing is Naruto/Ultear, you'd think I'd have more than a few scenes with Ultear in them. She'll be a regular character before too long though. I'd estimate that she will join the main cast in Chapter 13 or Chapter 14. At that point, she'll start playing the big role that I've always intended her to play.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing.


	12. The Cat is Out of the Bag

**12. The Cat is Out of the Bag**

_-November 10, X784_

"We shouldn't go? What in the hell is that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked in annoyance as he stared at his Communication Lacrima.

It had been one month since the Magic Council had been ordered to disband after the firing of Etherion, and they had finally reformed. When they had learned that news, Naruto had been ecstatic since it meant that he would finally be able to go out and take down more dark guilds. With the influx of prison breaks during the last month, he knew that he would be busy as it was.

And then Jiraiya had dropped the bomb shell on him. Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and Cait Shelter were going to take part in a mission to take down Oracion Seis.

Naturally, Naruto wanted to go and help out, especially after learning that Wendy would be one of the Cait Shelter representatives.

Jiraiya had immediately told him not to get involved.

"Naruto, you aren't thinking about the potential danger here," Jiraiya cautioned once again.

"Fine, I won't help them take down Oracion Seis," Naruto grumbled.

"Thanks for seeing reason, Naruto," Jiraiya said with a sigh of relief. "But I need to go. I need to do some research."

"Fine," Naruto muttered with a look of annoyance on his face. The moment that the connection was cut, a grin appeared on his face. "We won't help them take down Oracion Seis. Instead, we'll go and make sure no dark mages get away. They'll probably just beat Oracion Seis and leave them there, so we'll need to make sure the Rune Knights get them without a problem. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if Oracion Seis had another dark guild there to help them, like Racer's personal guild, Harpuia."

"Is there another reason that we're going there?" Gaara asked carefully. "You cannot be worried that they will fail. One of the Ten Wizard Saints, the Ace of Blue Pegasus, Fairy Tail's strongest female mage, eight A-Class mages, and your former student should be enough to take down Oracion Seis.

"I'm worried about Wendy, but I think she'll be fine. I do have another reason for wanting to go there though. I can't really describe it, but I have a feeling in my gut that we'll find something there that will help us," Naruto explained. "Now, let's get the show on the road.

With that, the pair rose to their feet and made their way out of the roadside inn they had been staying at.

* * *

As it turned out, Naruto partly wished that he had not decided to come to Worth Woodsea.

When they arrived, a large mechanical object with six legs was just starting to rise from the ground, though he had been unconcerned by it for the most part. Jiraiya had mentioned that Oracion Seis was supposedly seeking something called Nirvana, though he had been unaware that Naruto knew exactly what it was and how it worked. It was something Hades had told him about, as a matter of fact.

Because of that, he knew that it would only affect him in its final stage since he was not wavering between light and darkness. He knew who he was, and he accepted it completely.

No, what made him partly regret showing up was that he had underestimated the number of dark mages that he would have to use Drain on. It was quite boring, seeing as the mages had already been defeated before they showed up.

As it was, he was standing in a clearing, and Gaara was bringing the mages to him when he found them. There were already two hundred dark mages around him, and they had not even found the actual members of Oracion Seis yet.

Naruto looked up from the last mage that he had used Drain on and let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Gaara. Instead of coming back with a dozen dark mages again, the sand mage had come back with only three mages.

He instantly recognized them as Angel, Racer, and Midnight.

"Damn, it looks like he was put through the ringer," he muttered he kneeled over next to Racer and began to heal him. It looked as though he had been hit with an explosive lacrima or two.

"I was unable to find anymore, so it is likely that they are on or in Nirvana,  
Gaara remarked, looking at the massive mechanical wonder as it was hit from above by a blast from an airship.

"We need one of those," Naruto commented as he looked at the airship. It was nothing like the one Grimoire Heart had, but any airship was cool in his opinion. He cleared his throat a moment later though, changing the subject. "Once we finish here, when should go and board Nirvana. The final three members are probably there, and it'll be nice if we can get all six members of Oracion Seis together for the Rune Knights."

"A fight is going on right now," Gaara remarked as he looked at Nirvana.

"That's definitely a powerful mage," Naruto commented as he sensed it. There was something strange about the source that he could not recognize. As he had never sensed anyone using Dragon Force before, it was nearly impossible to place.

"Let's go," Naruto said as he finished drained the three mages of their magical power. He was glad that it only took a few moments to completely drain an exhausted mage, especially an unconscious one.

The pair took flight immediately, Naruto with Wind Magic and Gaara with a cloud of sand beneath his feet.

Just moments after they landed on Nirvana, an explosion occurred at each of the legs, and it began to fall come apart.

"Gaara, go to where that fight was taking place. Brain will probably be there. I'll grab the other two, and we'll meet with the legal mages. Since we're here, we might as well see Wendy," Naruto said.

With a nod, Gaara headed off to collect Brain while Naruto attempted to locate Cobra and Hoteye.

* * *

In the end, Naruto had managed to find Cobra fairly easily, but Hoteye had not been beaten.

In fact, Hoteye seemed to have switched sides and was holding Natsu and Jellal when Naruto arrived at the spot where the guild mages had met up.

Seeing Jellal of all people there had shocked Naruto a great deal. He had actually been under the assumption that Jellal died when the R-System tower exploded. Instead, it seemed that he had made it out.

Apart from Hoteye, Natsu, and Jellal, Naruto saw Jura Neekis, Erza Scarlet, Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia, Happy, Ichiya Kotobuki, Wendy Marvell, and Carla in that clearing.

It seemed that Wendy and Natsu had really gotten along so far. The moment Hoteye put the latter down, he was tackled in a hug by the former.

"You know… you guys really do make a mess," Naruto commented dryly as he landed, attracting everyone's attention instantly.

"Naruto!" Wendy exclaimed as she ran at him and tried to tackle him in a hug. He threw Cobra off to the side before she reached him, wanting to keep some distance between her and the Oracion Seis mage, even if he was unconscious.

"Naruto?" Erza, Natsu, Happy, and Carla asked in surprise.

"Hey, I know you!" Lucy exclaimed as she pointed at Naruto. "I saw you in the magic shop in Hargeon right before I joined Fairy Tail."

"Yeah, I remember that you were unzipping your top to get a discount," Naruto said pointedly, making her blush and Happy snicker.

"You definitely get people riled up," Gaara noted as he arrived on his cloud of sand. Brain was being held by a fairly large amount of sand.

"We all have talents," Naruto replied cheekily.

"Who is this guy?" Gray asked with a frown.

"I have heard of them before," Jura said as he looked at Naruto and Gaara carefully. "They are the two men that have taken down a hundred dark guilds by themselves."

Everyone looked at them with wide eyes at that.

"I didn't know we were they famous yet, did you?" Naruto asked as he looked to his friend. Gaara shook his head though. "I wouldn't compare what we did to something like taking down Oracion Seis though." He put Wendy down at this point, chuckling as she tried to keep hanging on.

"Man, I knew you were strong," Natsu said with a whistle.

"Did you round up the dark mages that we defeated?" Jura asked.

"Yeah, the Rune Knights will be here before too long," Naruto answered. He laughed when he saw several looks of confusion. "The Magic Council was ordered to reform last night, so they are back in business already, so to speak."

"Naruto, you should not have come in that case," Hoteye suddenly stated. His tone was solemn, making Naruto frown.

"Do you two know each other?" Gray asked, looking between Naruto and Hoteye.

"We've met," Naruto replied vaguely. "I'll be fine. I'd be more concerned about myself if I were you though. Even if you changed sides, the Rune Knights will arrest you if you're here when they show up."

"It looks like they are already here," Gaara commented a moment later when Ichiya ran into an invisible wall.

"Wow, you're actually here," Anko Mitarashi said as she walked through the runic barrier that surrounded them. "It's been a while, brat. I'm here to get the Oracion Seis members codenamed Brain, Cobra, and Hoteye.

Jura's eyes widened as he looked at Hoteye. "Wait!"

"It's fine," Hoteye said as he lifted a hand to stop Jura. "Even though my good nature has awoken, my sins from the past won't disappear. I think it'll be best if I start over."

"Is that so? Then I shall look for your brother for you," Jura vowed.

"Really?" Hoteye asked in excitement.

"Tell me your brother's name, and I will look for him," Jura confirmed with a nod.

"His name is Wally Buchanan," Hoteye stated.

"Wally? I know of him," Erza said with a smile. Jura and Hoteye looked at her in surprise at that. "He's a friend. He is doing well. Last I heard, he's travelling around the continent."

Hoteye broke down in tears of joy at that. "This must be the miracle that is only to people who believe in the light. Thank you."

After that, Brain and Cobra were carried off and Hoteye was led away by Rune Knights.

Naruto considered offering him a place in the independent guild they were planning on creating, but he did not put it past the Council to track down Wally and use him as bait. He would not put Hoteye through a situation like that.

"Can you drop the barrier now?" Naruto asked with a hint of annoyance.

"No, I'm afraid not," Anko answered with a shake of her head. "There is still one among you that is wanted even more badly than Oracion Seis. For infiltrating the Magic Council, arranging the firing of Etherion for ulterior motives, and resulting in the destruction of the Council, we are under orders to arrest Jellal Fernandes on sight. If he resists, we are authorized to kill him."

"But he doesn't remember any of that! He lost his memory!" Wendy yelled, making Naruto understand why he was there in the first place. If he lost his memory, it would make sense for him to stand side by side with guild mages peacefully.

"That doesn't matter, unfortunately. Under Article Thirteen of the Penal Code, loss of memory is not a basis on which a pardon can be given," Anko sighed. "More than likely, he'll just been imprisoned as long as his memory stays gone though. There's no way they'd execute him if he's lost his memory."

"It's alright. I have no intention of resisting arrest," Jellal said. He looked at Wendy at this point. "I never did manage to remember you in the end. I'm sorry for that."

"She says you saved her a long time ago," Carla said with a frown.

"I see… after hearing of all the trouble I caused, it is relieving to hear that I at least helped someone," Jellal admitted. He glanced at Erza at this point. "Erza, thank you for everything."

Before Jellal could be led away by Rune Knights, Naruto saw Lahar running into the area.

"Don't deactivate the barrier yet!" Lahar called out as he neared them. "Oracion Seis and Jellal Fernandes are not the only ones here that need to be arrested. According to testimony that was offered by Angel and Racer of Oracion Seis, Naruto Uzumaki is formerly of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory!"

Everyone but Erza looked at Naruto in shock at that. He definitely did not fit what they expected a Grimoire Heart mage to look like, even a former one.

"According to them, Ultear Milkovich is the leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory too," Lahar said with a stern look in his eyes. "The Magic Council will want him arrested just as much as Jellal Fernandes."

"So that's what Hoteye meant when he said I shouldn't have come," Naruto muttered under his breath. Jiraiya's warnings came to mind as well.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but I'm going to have to ask you to come with us. We have no choice but to bring you with us. However, your friend can leave," Anko said, immediately dropping into a combat stance.

"I left Grimoire Heart in October of last year," Naruto confirmed, surprising the legal mages. "How do you think I was able to find so many dark guilds and take care of them on my own? I've saved a hell of a lot more people than I've harmed, and I won't be stopping here. You can try to arrest me if you want, but this time, I'm only pulling my punches enough so that they don't kill. You have no idea what we are capable of."

"Legal mages, do not assist us in any way," Gaara commanded, surprising them. "You cannot be held responsible for watching us escape, seeing as how you have not even been sent a formal request by the Magic Council to aid them. If you interfere, they can arrest you, however."

Natsu looked as though he was having a hard time staying out of it, but it appeared that they were listening.

"Do you really think you can beat all of us?" Lahar asked as he moved into a combat stance as well.

"I'm sorry for not telling you the truth about my magic, Natsu," Naruto said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and a stream of black wind suddenly formed from each hand. He took a step forward and swung them, knocking away every Rune Knight other than Anko and Lahar, who managed to dodge it. "Sky God's Eurus."

"Shit! He's a god slayer!" Anko exclaimed as she jumped back.

"God Slayer Magic?" Happy asked in surprise, never hearing of such a magic before.

"That was just like my Fire Dragon's Wing Attack," Natsu said with wide eyes.

"Sand God's Iron Punch," Gaara intoned as he appeared in front of Lahar in the blink of an eye. He slammed a fist made of black sand into the Rune Knight's stomach and sent him flying away.

"You are both god slayers?" Anko asked in alarm.

"Yeah, we are," Naruto replied as he inhaled a deep breath. "Sky God's Bellow!"

The twister of black wind hit Anko and sent her flying back with surprising force, but Naruto was not interested in continuing the fight. The Jutsu Shiki barrier around them had fallen when Anko was hit.

"Jellal, if you want to atone for your past actions, come with us," Naruto said, catching the former Wizard Saint's attention. "If you come with us, you can use your powers for good instead of rotting in a cell in the hopes that you won't regain your memories and be executed for it."

Jellal looked back at Erza, only to see her nod encouragingly.

"I accept your offer," Jellal answered. He looked at Erza one final time before he continued speaking. "Of course… the color of your hair. Farewell, Erza."

"Let's get out of here in a hurry," Naruto said as he took flight.

Gaara and Jellal followed with the former on a cloud of sand and the latter surrounded by Heavenly Body Magic.

"Next time I see you, I want a fight!" Natsu yelled out, only to receive a thumbs up with Naruto.

"What in the world just happened?" Lucy asked as she looked around at the downed Rune Knights and up in the sky at the fleeing mages. It had happened so fast that she was definitely caught off guard.

"You just saw my brother being himself," Wendy said with a bright smile. She was not worried at all, though she was a little disappointed that she had not had much time with him. "I forgot how cool he could be."

"Let's head to Cait Shelter," Erza suddenly said as she turned her back to the Rune Knights. She looked rather pleased by the turn of events.

Jura nodded in agreement with her.

They never once looked back at the Rune Knights as they left.

"He really packs a punch," Anko muttered as she rose to her feet once the guild mages were gone. Apart from a few minor tears in her clothes, she looked perfectly fine. "He just can't get the Council to leave him alone, can he?"

She began to attempt to wake up her Rune Knights so they could leave at that point.

* * *

A couple hours later, Naruto, Gaara, and Jellal were sitting in the dining room of Ghoul Spirit. Their headquarters had long ago been vacated after Naruto and Gaara destroyed the guild, but it was one of the pair's safe houses. They kept it stocked with food and supplies in case their pasts were discovered and they could not risk going to town.

It was fortunate that Naruto had listened to Gaara's suggestion that they set up something like that. By now, they would likely meet Rune Knights in any town they went into.

"Thank you for helping me," Jellal said as he finished his seventh bowl of ramen. They did not have much of a choice of food at the moment, but Naruto's ramen addiction did mean that there was always store bought ramen available. Plus, he could make some himself, even if it was not that great. Jellal did not really care what he ate though. He had been comatose for a month, so it was understandable that he only really cared about eating.

"You're helping us as much as we're helping you," Naruto replied. "We've been searching for another person to join us for a while, and you just happened to show up when the Rune Knights were finding out about my past."

"It was fortunate for both of us that we were in that situation then," Jellal conceded. "It's strange… I know many things, but I do not know how I know them. I knew that Grimoire Heart was a powerful dark guild, but that's all I know about it. I do wonder why you did not deny being a member of the guild in the past though."

"Brain, Cobra, and Midnight, if he woke up, would have confirmed what Angel and Racer told the Rune Knights. Plus, the Magic Council was already suspicious of us from what we've heard, so they likely would have sentenced me without proof," Naruto explained. "Plus, it made things easier. I was not looking forward to freeing you from prison. Breaking in and out of the prison in Era actually sounds more annoying than being named a criminal, kicking those Rune Knights' asses, and bringing you with us."

Jellal chuckled at that. "You definitely have a sense of humor."

"Don't encourage him," Gaara muttered, making Jellal chuckle even more. He then spoke clearly as he looked at Naruto. "We may have to change our methods now that you have been exposed and I have assaulted a Rune Knight Captain. The Rune Knights are unlikely to come when we call them now, even if we send the messages anonymously."

"So we took that break from dealing with dark guilds for no reason then," Naruto groaned.

"What methods do you use?" Jellal asked in interest.

"We just beat them up and use Drain, a Wind Magic spell. It drains the mages of all their magical power, leaving them unable to use magic for at least a few weeks," Naruto explained. "We can still do that, I suppose, but we were also letting the Rune Knights get them so that they could keep them imprisoned for a while."

Jellal closed his eyes as he thought about the situation. "Perhaps you don't need the Rune Knights involved. It may be possible to make the dark mages afraid to return to a life of crime. I hate to say it and risk sounding like the person I was before I lost my memory, but maybe you need to use fear against them. Two strong mages without any affiliations may scare some people, but a group of three or more dark mages with a collective name and symbol may make the dark guilds that we deal with fear the simple thought of us."

Naruto and Gaara shared a look, thinking about the independent guild idea that Jiraiya had proposed.

"We've actually been thinking of forming a guild once we had another member. The guild wouldn't be legal, but it wouldn't be dark either. It would be independent," Naruto explained.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Jellal asked as he opened his eyes. "Three people should be enough for now."

"I agree," Gaara stated.

"We'll need a name and a symbol then. It might also be good to have a safe house that no one but us knows about," Naruto mused. "Any ideas?"

"I have a name that just came to mind, actually," Jellal admitted. "How about… Crime Sorciere?"

Naruto and Gaara nodded in agreement with the name.

The day marked the birth of the independent guild known as Crime Sorciere.

* * *

Author's Note: And that's another chapter down.

Wow, I keep surprising myself with the chapters around 4k words. They're getting easier and easier to write.

For those of you who predicted that Naruto would be in Crime Sorciere, I applaud you. It wasn't that hard to figure out, especially seeing as how I told a few people that myself, but I noticed that quite a few people did not make the connection between Naruto being an independent mage, being paired with Ultear, and thinking about forming an independent guild.

Now, I know some people were interested in seeing Naurto fight Oracion Seis, but I wanted to keep the Light Team's fights with them the same. There's no rule saying that I can't have them escape from prison, reform Oracion Seis, and become stronger opponents though.

Also, if you've paid attention to my polls lately, I've been asking opinions on what girl people think should join Oracion Seis. I'm actually working on deciding the final member right now. I've put one final poll up on the issue, and I'll pick the first or second place option when the poll is over. I do like to make the final decision, after all. The options are Ikaruga, Flare Corona (keep in mind that I would redeem her), Haku (FemHaku, to be precise), and Fu (Nanabi Jinchuriki in canon). Angel was considered, but I decided that I didn't really want her to join. After I made her rat Naruto out, he wouldn't accept her anyways.

By the way, there will be seven members of Crime Sorciere instead of the three in canon. Five of them were already obvious, and I'm sure the sixth one is easy to guess too.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing.


	13. Connections

**13. Connections**

-November 15, X784

"Do you know why you were called here today, Captain Mitarashi?"

Anko Mitarashi rolled her eyes as she looked at the ten mages seated before her. Nine of them were simply blowhards as far as she was concerned, but they were technically her superiors, so she did not wish to tell them what she really thought of them.

"You brought me here because you'd decided to hold an inquiry on the failure of the mission to arrest Naruto Uzumaki and Jellal Fernandes," Anko said in the most bored tone she could muster. Frankly, she was surprised that it had taken them five days to ask her to come before them after what she said in her report, but she was not completely sure why they wanted to hold an inquiry.

"Mind your tone," Guran Doma, the Chairman of the Magic Council, commanded.

"Why should she?" the Second Seat of the Magical Council retorted. "You're the one that decided to hold an inquiry when her report was sufficient. I'm applauding her ability to stop herself from calling you a dumbass, to be honest."

Anko pressed her lips together, trying to hold in the laughter at the look of outrage on Guran's face. She had found it funny when Dan told her that she accepted the position. Guran should have considered what offering the position of Second Seat to Tsunade Kato would mean. She had a sharp tongue that would not spare anyone that annoyed her.

"The Council has been too busy reorganizing itself to go through all of the reports. A summary from Lahar of the Fourth Custody Enforcement Unit was all we needed to know in order to see that an inquiry into Captain Mitarashi's actions was necessary," Guran said, clearing his throat.

"You're not seriously suggesting that I failed on purpose, are you?" Anko asked in a dangerous tone.

"That is exactly what the old fart's suggesting," Tsunade remarked with narrowed eyes.

"It is not the time for name calling," Org, the only remaining member from the last Council and the current Third Seat, interjected. "Captain Mitarashi has served us loyally for years. Perhaps she can tell us what happened since we did not have the time to go through her report."

Guran did not say a word, waiting on Anko to speak. He could not afford to reprimand Tsunade. Such an action would result in her verbally tearing him apart, and then he would have to hear about it from Knight-Commander Dan Kato afterwards.

"After Naruto and Gaara graciously rounded up all of the dark mages that the _Light Team_ defeated, I went about arresting Brain, Cobra, Hoteye, and Jellal Fernandes while Lahar and his men went about taking care of the other mages. The Oracion Seis members known as Angel and Racer reported Naruto Uzumaki as being a former member of Grimoire Heart and stating that he served in the Seven Kin of Purgatory under Ultear Milkovich," Anko began to explain. Tsunade and Org were on her side, so she was a bit more relaxed now. "Lahar ran to inform me of this development at this point, and I declared my intention to arrest Naruto Uzumaki. He informed us that he left Grimoire Heart over a year ago and has saved far more lives than he has taken, and he cautioned us that we had no idea of the power he wielded. At that point, his partner told the members of the _Light Team_ that were present not to get involved so that they would not be held responsible for anything that happened. Naruto and Gaara proceeded to reveal their true power and kicked our asses thoroughly enough that they could escape. Jellal Fernandes left with them, apparently."

Whispers could be heard throughout the room at her words.

"You mean to tell me that for all your experience and training, you, Lahar, and over a dozen Rune Knights were easily beaten?" Guran asked in disbelief.

"In a one on one fight against Naruto Uzumaki, I might be able to defeat him, but I would be in no condition to arrest him afterwards. Lahar and the other Rune Knights, however… even now that they know of his true power, I have no doubt that he could destroy them in the blink of an eye," Anko answered, not caring what he thought of her answer. "Personally, I was overwhelmed by the revelation of his true power, along with his partner's, to actually fight him. He managed to get a hit off on me that knocked me a pretty far ways away from the area. When I recovered, he was gone."

"What is this true power of his?" Org asked curiously.

"If you're looking to give them epithets, I'd recommend Sky God Naruto and Sand God Gaara," Anko answered, looking positively satisfied at the sharp intake of breath. "They wield magic that is above Dragon Slayer Magic… God Slayer Magic."

"You can't be serious!" Guran yelled in shock. He could not believe that two users of God Slayer Magic had been dealing with dark guilds and having contact with Rune Knights, and they had kept it all a secret.

"Can I go, or do you need something else?" Anko asked dryly.

"This inquiry is not over with, Captain Mitarashi!" Guran barked out.

"Then consider this my declaration of unemployment," Anko said as she turned around and walked towards the doors, shocking the Chairman.

"Oh, and don't try to send anyone to convince me to come back. My contract hasn't actually been renewed yet, and I'm more likely to take that serpent-headed staff and shove it up your ass before I accept to work anyone under you in a chain of command," Anko said as she opened the doors and left.

Tsunade began to clap at that point. Noticing the looks she was getting, she chuckled. "What? You've got to give the girls props on her exits. She's got style."

* * *

Jiraiya sighed as he walked through the entrance of Magnolia and made his way towards Fairy Tail.

He was extremely annoyed at the moment. The issue that was bothering him was, of course, his godson. In all honesty, he doubted that Naruto's presence in Worth Woodsea had actually mattered. More than likely, Brain had ordered his subordinates to freely give that information if they were caught as a means of revenge. Naruto had destroyed a great deal of guilds under Oracion Seis, after all.

Naruto's presence in the forest was not what was annoying him. Naruto deceiving him before he went there was not even the main problem. And while he had a small issue with Naruto's decision to bring Jellal Fernandes with him, it was not the main problem either.

No, the main problem he had with the situation was that Naruto had left his Communication Lacrima at the roadside inn that he was staying in before he went to Worth Woodsea. As such, he had no means of contacting him at the moment.

He was actually heading to Fairy Tail to see if he could get Cana Alberona to divine Naruto's location for him. He had met her a few times, so he was aware of her talent with her cards.

As he neared the guild, however, he saw something that he did not expect.

"Gildarts?" Jiraiya asked in surprise, spotting the Ace of Fairy Tail a short ways from a hole in the guild hall's wall.

"Hey Jiraiya, how's it been?" Gildarts asked with a wave and a grin, appearing as carefree as ever.

"Oh, all things considered, I'd say I'm done well enough," Jiraiya replied with a wave of his own. "How about you?"

"I could say the same," Gildarts answered as he walked over to him.

Jiraiya's eyes widened as he caught a brief glimpse of prosthetic limbs. "How about we catch up like old time?" he suggested as he schooled his features.

"That sounds good to me," Gildarts chuckled.

The pair began to make their way down the street in a different direction at that. Jiraiya knew that he could easily find Cana later. Her alcoholic tendencies made it easy to find her, after all.

"You're never going to believe what I ran into on Mount Zonia during my _Hundred Year Job_," Gildarts said, beginning his tale.

* * *

When the pair finished their tales, neither one was completely sure which tale was more surprising.

Jiraiya had definitely been surprised to hear that Gildarts had run into Acnologia on Mount Zonia and lost an arm, a leg, and an organ in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, however, Gildarts was shocked to hear how Jiraiya encountered the son of Minato Namikaze as a member of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory two years ago, along with everything else that happened since then.

"Damn, you godson definitely can't get the Council off his back, can they?" Gildarts muttered. "They try to arrest him for being suspected as a member of Grimoire Heart, then they try to arrest him for _assault_ on two Rune Knight Captains, and finally, they try to arrest him for treason just because he did not tell them what he knew. I always knew the Council was a bunch of pricks."

"I would be careful who hears you say that," Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "Tsunade took the post of Second Seat to make sure that there is a supporter of Fairy Tail and Naruto on the Council. I'm sure she mainly did it for Dan, actually, but she does support Fairy Tail and Naruto, so it's a moot point."

Gildarts whistled in surprise at that. "Tsunade… that reminds me of old times. Do you remember when I took the S-Class Promotion Trial? It was twenty-seven or twenty-eight years ago. Damn, my memory must be going. At least I'm not as old as you are though."

Jiraiya chuckled good-naturedly at the jibe at his age. "I remember that you were supposed to fight me, but you decided that you didn't stand a chance after a single hit, so you decided to blackmail me. I had to let you win, or you were going to tell her that I was peeking on her with my toads."

"I wasn't about to fight you after I realized how strong you were. That would be like Natsu or Gray fighting me now. It's certainly possible, but it'll be a one-sided ass kicking," Gildarts replied with a grin. "So you're going to try to find your godson now?"

"Yeah, I really do need to find him," Jiraiya said with a sigh. "He doesn't always think things through, like not considering the possibility that his past would be revealed by a dark mage that knew about it and wanted revenge on him. He's grown into a good man though."

"Don't seek him out yet," Gildarts advised, making Jiraiya look at him curiously. "The Council knows he's your godson from what you've told me. They'll probably be watching you carefully for a little while. Instead, get a Communication Lacrima and ask someone to deliver it to him."

"I was being a bit rash," Jiraiya admitted as he thought about what Gildarts said. "I probably shouldn't just buy one for him though. If I did, they might notice."

"In that case, leave it to me," Gildarts said with a grin. "I already have one that is just collecting dust. I'll ask Cana to deliver it later. I've never met a more helpful girl than her, and she is talented at tracking people down."

"Thanks," Jiraiya said, holding back a snort of amusement. He was not sure how Gildarts did not see the connection between Cana and Cornelia when he arrived at the guild. He strongly suspected that the girl was actually the Crash user's daughter based on that resemblance, though it had only become clear in the last year. He was not about to point it out to Gildarts though. If she had not told him, then she had a reason for it, after all.

Oblivious, Gildarts made his way back to the guild, unaware that Natsu was just arriving at his house, expecting to be given a foreign flame, or something of that nature.

* * *

Cana Alberona sighed for the umpteenth as she walked down the road.

She was not entirely sure why she was carrying the wooden box that she had in her arms to the northeast of Shirotsume, but when her father, despite not knowing that he was such, asked her to do something, she could not refuse. He had stressed that she was not to tell anyone what she was doing and that the box was to be given to someone named Naruto, but that was all he had really told her.

She had managed to track him down with her Card Magic easily enough, and the journey between Magnolia and Shirotsume was not too bad, so it was not that bad, really. The lack of alcohol was really annoying her though.

As she started to near the area where the person that she was supposed to deliver the box too was at, she saw small flashes in the air that caught her interest.

Streaks of white and gold were flying through the air, clashing every fifteen to twenty second in small explosions of light. Her eyes widened as she began to actually sense for magical power. The streaks of light were not simply light. They were mages.

"That magical power is incredible," she whispered. One of them had roughly the same amount of magical power as Laxus, and the other nearly had the same amount. That was when she sensed a third source of magical power, and it was heading towards her. It lacked the power that the others had, but it was still greater than Erza's magical power.

"May I ask what you are doing here?" a young man with short red hair asked as he appeared before her on a cloud of sand. He had a large gourd on his back that quickly caught her attention.

"Are you Naruto? I'm supposed to deliver something to him," Cana asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice. His voice unnerved her due to the lack of emotion in it.

"You are Fairy Tail," Gaara remarked as he saw her mark. "Very well, I will take you to him. His spar is almost over."

She followed him without saying a word, though her mind was dwelling on the fact that he had referred to that light show as a spar. The amount of power in each of the explosions of light was not what she expected in a spar.

Within minutes, she found herself led to a clearing where the two streaks of light landed, allowing her to clearly see the two individuals that had been sparring.

Her voice caught in her throat as she saw the one that had been the golden streak. With his blue hair and the tattoo-like mark around his eye, she instantly knew who he was. He was Jellal Fernandes, a man wanted by the Magic Council for treason.

"Naruto, this girl has come from Fairy Tail. She wishes to deliver something to you," the red-haired man stated.

"Oh, let's see what it is," the other streak of light, a blond-haired young man, said with excitement in his eyes. With golden blond hair and bright blue eyes, he appeared to greatly contrast with her image of someone that would travel with someone like Jellal Fernandes.

"Here," she whispered as she handed the box to him. She was quite alarmed that Gildarts had sent her into a place like that.

"Hey, do you want a lift back to Magnolia?" Naruto asked curiously. "We could at least fly you half of the way and save you a good bit of walking. Hell, Jellal could probably fly you to the front door of your guild hall in fifteen minutes if he let me use my magic on him."

"After you used Vernier on me without warning and made me fly through a tree, do you really think I'd let you use it on me again?" Jellal asked with a raised eyebrow. He then looked at Cana. "I'm assuming that you don't know what's going on. You look pretty nervous, after all. I'll go ahead and say this now since it might save some time. I lost my memory, so I don't remember any of the stuff that's making you terrified of me. You can ask Erza or Natsu if you want."

Cana looked surprised to hear that, and she had no idea what she could possibly say in response.

"Oh, it's a Communication Lacrima," Naruto said as he removed the orb from the box. Holding it firmly between his hands, he activated it and made a connection to Jiraiya's Communication Lacrima. "You know, it's not very nice to send a messenger that has no idea who we really are."

Jiraiya chuckled through the lacrima, having appeared in it just before he spoke. "Cana, I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything beforehand. I think someone might be following me, so I have to be careful who I speak to and what I say in public. Naruto, Gaara, and Jellal are on the same side as us. They're all wanted, but they're not bad people. I'm assuming Jellal isn't, at least. Naruto is a good judge of character most of the time though."

"I still think you should have made sure that Gildarts told me what was going on I came here," Cana said with a hint of annoyance in her voice, making the perverted mage laugh.

"For your information, Jellal is a good person," Naruto said with narrowed eyes as he looked at the lacrima. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't second guess me about people. I know a lot more about him than you do."

"Sorry about that Naruto… and you too, Jellal," Jiraiya apologized, but it was clear that he wondered what Naruto meant.

He was not the only one either. Jellal was looking at Naruto with a slight frown.

"I appreciate the offer," Cana suddenly said, finally getting back to the question Naruto asked her. "But I think I'll just walk. I don't think I want to be seen with you guys if you're all wanted, so it'll be safer if I walk."

Naruto shrugged in response. "That's fine. You're probably right, but I thought I'd offer anyways."

"Thanks, and it was nice meeting you, Naruto," Cana said as she offered her hand.

"Same to you, Cana," Naruto replied, remembering the name that Jiraiya addressed her by.

She quickly ran off at that point, still a little unnerved about being around Jellal. She would need to talk to Erza and Natsu before she could really feel comfortable around someone like him.

* * *

The conversation with Jiraiya had not ended up lasting long. In the end Jiraiya had just wanted to be sure that he was not going to do anything stupid and that he was fine. It annoyed him to receive the protective godfather treatment, but he could endure it.

Once the conversation was over, he noticed that Gaara had left the area, so it was just him and Jellal.

"How did I do this time?" Naruto asked his new comrade. In the last five days, he had trained with Jellal to get a good measure of the other mage's abilities. As much as it galled him, Naruto had never won a match against Jellal in that time. They were close in terms of magical power, but Jellal possessed incredible talent at fighting. As such, it was skill that allowed the former Wizard Saint to win every time.

Well, the Heavenly Body Magic spell known as Meteor also had a big part to do with Jellal's victories. Naruto could equal his speed by using Vernier, but he had never managed to cast it without Jellal allowing him to do so. Due to his inability to cast it without an incantation, it was vastly inferior to Meteor.

"You are getting better," Jellal answered, but Naruto could clearly see that he was not thinking about the fight. "Naruto, what did you mean when you told your godfather that you knew more about me than he did?"

Naruto sighed as he looked at Jellal. "I really didn't want to tell you this yet, but I guess I don't really have much of a choice at this point. You're not completely to blame for the things you did in the past. You were being manipulated."

Jellal's eyes widened at that. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"How do you tell someone that they were manipulated with magic without them actually blaming the person who did it?" Naruto asked in return. Seeing the confusion in Jellal's eyes, Naruto decided to clarify. "The person who manipulated you used Possession Magic. She was under orders to do so by the Master of Grimoire Heart, Hades. It was supposed to help him in his plans. The person who actually did the manipulating… she's someone that I care about, and I know that she never acted with the intention of causing harm. Come with me back to our temporary base, and I'll explain everything."

"I will listen, but I ask that you do not try to deceive me again, Naruto. I believe that we could be great friends, but we need to be able to trust each other," Jellal said with a serious look in his eyes.

"I won't do it again… unless it's for a prank or something harmless," Naruto replied, making the corners of Jellal's lips turn upwards slightly.

"For now, let's just go back and discuss this. Tomorrow, we should leave though. It may not be safe to stay here any longer," Jellal said.

"Right," Naruto agreed as the pair made their way back to their safe house for a long conversation.

* * *

Author's Note: And there's a wrap to another chapter. For the most part, this was not Naruto/Crime Sorciere-centric at all, but I think it's a good thing to have at this point. Its main purpose was to set up future events, after all.

In case you missed it, this chapter takes place after the Oracion Seis Arc but before the Edolas Arc, hence the references to the scenes that surrounded the return of Gildarts in canon.

On a side note, I hated naming this chapter. I couldn't come up with a decent name, so randomly typed words next to the number until I managed to find one that I liked and thought fit the chapter to an extent.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing. Next chapter, Ultear will finally join the main cast and will start appearing regularly.


	14. Long Awaited Reunion

**14. Long Awaited Reunion**

_-December 16, X784_

Not far from Tenrou Island, Ultear and Meredy were sitting in a small boat. The latter had her hands gripped around the oars and was rowing away from the island.

The war between Grimoire Heart and Fairy Tail had already ended, and they were now free of their allegiance to Hades.

Ultear had to admit that she had never expected such a turn of events. The Seven Kin of Purgatory had been defeated, along with Bluenote. With some assistance on her part in the form of restoring the Great Tenrou Tree with her Arc of Time, Hades had been defeated as well.

Perhaps the most surprising thing for Ultear, however, was that she had been turned away from her goals. Despite meeting Zeref in person, she had lost interest in him completely. Viewing her mother's memories during her fight with Gray Fullbuster had affected her in ways that she could not have predicted.

"Meredy, are you alright?" Ultear asked suddenly, noticing the frown on the younger girl's face.

Meredy just stared at her in response, not answering.

"It might be difficult right now, but let's forget everything," Ultear said when she saw that Meredy was not going to respond. "We should just forget about Grimoire Heart… and Zeref." Something caught her eye suddenly, and she looked out to see, smiling a little when she saw three dolphins jumping out of the water a ways from them. "Look at that, Meredy. Dolphins."

"Tell me, Ultear," Meredy said with a dark tone. "Is it true that you were the one who destroyed my town? My family and friends… you took them all."

Ultear looked sad to hear the question, but she did not look surprised. "Yeah, that's right." Meredy's eyes widened at that admission.

"I was going to tell you everything, one day. I thought I was on the first lap of my life. Then when I went to the Ultimate World of Magic and perfected the Arc of Time, I would start the second lap. I believed that I could redo everything that happened in the first lap. That's why I was able to do such horrible things and stray so far away from the path of humanity. The second lap would be my true life, and we would both be happy. It was all for that."

Meredy rose to her feet at that, shaking in anger.

"I know… it was all _just what I planned_. To other people, I am a devil. Piling sins of top of sins, I'm a fool of a woman with delusions of a happy life. I won't ask you to forgive me, but I do want you to know that I am sorry. I know you must hate me enough to kill me."

Those words seemed to snap Meredy out of her anger, realizing that she had been thinking of that exact thing.

"But, there's no need to taint your hands anymore, because I'll disappear from your world," Ultear said as a dagger appeared in her hand and she stabbed herself in the stomach with it. She threw herself over the side of the boat before Meredy could even react. "I know you can find happiness… that you can be happy. I love you, Meredy."

She landed in the water and began to sink within moments.

"Ultear!" Meredy yelled as she suddenly dived into the water after her.

Shock filled Ultear as Meredy brought her back to the surface.

"Meredy?" Ultear whispered.

"Let's live," Meredy whispered back. She lifted her arm up, revealing that she had used Sensory Link. Tears could be seen falling from her eyes as well. "I know of the pain and sadness that you feel, Ultear. You are the one who raised me, and that isn't going to change! I forgive you! So please don't say anything like that again! Please don't live me alone! I love you, and I want to live on together!"

The pair shared a hug immediately after that, neither one wanting to leave the other at all.

* * *

Zancrow watched in disbelief as Hades was killed by the Black Mage, Zeref.

From the very start of the mission to destroy Fairy Tail and collect Zeref, Zancrow had felt that it was destined to fail.

He would admit that Makarov had fallen easily when Hades confronted him, but he had been unable to shake that feeling.

Strangely enough, he had found that he was not bothered by the prospect that it would end in failure. He did not fully understand the reason behind it until he was fighting the Fire Dragon Slayer, Natsu Dragneel.

Zancrow had fought half-heartedly against him, though he had easily beaten Natsu at every turn. And then, Natsu said that he was going to defeat Hades.

The old Zancrow would have become furious at that, just as the old Zancrow would have roasted his fellow Grimoire Heart mages before the fight with Natsu for saying that he was strong. This Zancrow, on the other hand, was not the type to kill allies just for being weak. He also found that he had no real loyalty to Hades.

That was why he had never even considering using a God Slayer's Secret Art against Natsu and why he simply pretended to be unconscious after the Fairy Tail mage ate his flames and used Dragon God's Brilliant Flame.

After that, he had stayed on the island for a while, resulting in him seeing Meredy carrying Zeref. Knowing that she and Ultear would be betraying Grimoire Heart, he had decided to make sure that she knew the truth behind the destruction of her town, which he hoped would stop her from bringing Zeref to anyone, Hades or Ultear.

It was a good thing too.

The information had made her drop the Black Mage to the ground, which enabled Zancrow to pull her out of the range of Zeref's Death Magic right before he released a wave on it. Judging by the way he apologized, it seemed that he had no control of it either.

With Zeref out of Meredy's hands, Zancrow had begun to look for ways off the island. Regardless of the outcome of the mission, leaving Grimoire Heart became his immediate goal.

In the end, he had snuck aboard the airship with the intention of jumping out when they got close to the mainland. He was not particularly fond of the idea of swimming across such a large expanse of ocean.

The last thing he had expected to see was Zeref come aboard and hade straight for the room where Hades, Kain, and Rustyrose were.

As he watched Zeref kill Hades with his Death Magic, he did not feel any sympathy or sadness for the man. If anything, he wished that Bluenote was in the room at the moment as well. Rustyrose and Kain had brought him to the medical bay to rest, so he was safe from being killed by the Black Mage.

Right when it looked like Zeref was going to kill Kain and Rustyrose, he spoke a single word that sent a chill down his spine, despite not knowing what it meant. It was the same word he had spoken when he nearly killed him and Meredy earlier.

Acnologia.

He decided to get away from that area of the airship when Zeref turned away from the last two members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory and began to move to a higher area so that he could get a better look of things.

Despite what he had planned earlier, Zancrow was going to just jump out of the airship now. There was no point in spending too much time around a mage that could kill him with a single look, after all.

* * *

"Meredy, I have something for you," Ultear said thoughtfully as she remembered an encounter she had two months ago. They were once again in the rowboat that they had escaped from the island earlier in.

"What do you mean?" Meredy asked in surprise.

Ultear used her basic skill with Requip to summon a silver key to her hand. "Before I returned to the airship after the Etherion Incident, I ran into someone that is important to both of us. He told me that _when_ we turned away from the path we were on, we would be welcome to join him. He also told me to give this to you at that time. To be exact, he said to tell you that it's from your brother."

She handed a wide-eyed Meredy the key at that.

"Naruto gave this to you for me?" she asked as she stared at it. She recognized it for what it was, and she was very grateful that he would give her something like that. The part that really touched her, however, was that he had referred to himself as her brother.

"He did," Ultear answered. "I wonder how to go about finding him, though. The Magic Council is hunting him from what I understand."

"Sensory Link," Meredy intoned as she held her right arm up. A pink beam of energy shot from her wrist towards the mainland.

"Meredy! You're not supposed to link yourself to someone you can't see. For all you know, it could create the link as he's about to die. That would kill you!" Ultear chastised, looking distinctively worried.

"I'm sorry," Meredy apologized, though the smile on her face ruined the apology for the most part. She placed her right index finger on her left arm and began to write across it with her fingernail.

"We have left. Where can we meet?" Ultear read aloud as she watched Meredy send the message with her magic. It was not a magic intended for communication, but it did allow the user to pass messages to someone that they shared strong emotions with. Naruto would not hear the words in his head, but he would feel the sensation of someone making the letters with a fingernail on his left arm.

"Halfway between Hargeon and Akane. We will be there," Meredy said slowly, stringing together the letters that she felt being scratched on her own arm.

"That was easier than I expected," Ultear commented as she watched the symbol for the Sensory Link fade away.

"You should have felt his emotions. He was… elated," Meredy said with a cheerful smile.

Ultear was about to responds to that statement when she saw something fly up from Tenrou Island. "What is that?"

"I'm not sure. I thought I saw a shadow earlier, but I was focused on communicating with Naruto," Meredy replied with a frown.

Both of the mages felt their eyes widen as they were able to see exactly what it was.

"That's Acnologia, the Black Dragon in the Book of the Apocalypse," Ultear whispered in alarm as the black and blue dragon began to form its breath attack. "That will wipe out the entire island!"

"After everything that happened, it's going to end like that?" Meredy asked in surprise.

Her answer came as the dragon released its breath attack at the island. Upon making contact with the island and ocean, it sent waves flying at them, sending moving farther away at surprising speeds.

"I can't believe it," Meredy whispered when she saw that the island really was gone.

"We will need to tell Naruto about this when we meet up with him," Ultear said, looking just as stunned as Meredy, despite the fact that she knew of its power beforehand.

* * *

"Do you even know how much trouble I can get in for selling this to you?"

Naruto sighed as the shop owner repeated the question for the third time.

In the last month, Crime Sorciere had been rather busy. They had only taken down ten guilds during the month, but it was more difficult when they had to avoid towns for their safety. Truthfully, they had also slowed down in order to prevent the dark guilds from getting desperate. Jellal had said that if they relentlessly destroyed guilds, it would make the ones out there feel as though they had to do something drastic in order to protect themselves. If they had more than three people, that might not be that big of a problem, but they were fairly limited to what they could handle with only that many.

Naruto had to admit that Jellal was a smart and insightful man, even with his memory loss.

"You were unaware that I was being hunted by the Rune Knights when you came in here a month ago to order this. You were going to refuse to sell it to me when I came in, and you tried to call for help. Before you could, I knocked you out. If you remember that, you won't get into any trouble," Naruto said, tired of listening to the man.

"But you didn't-"

Naruto punched him in the face, knocking him out easily. He then put one hundred fifty thousand jewels on the counter before picking up a small wooden box and a pair of magic headphones.

He quickly slipped the headphones around his neck. They were the regular lacrima model, meaning that they were black, had a band that connected the ear pieces, and had a small orange lacrima that protruded from each ear piece. He had actually custom ordered the two orange lacrima since he liked the color so much.

Unlike magic headphones used by individuals like Laxus Dreyar, they did not have a wire going down to a magic database. Instead, the lacrima contained the database.

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you," Naruto sarcastically remarked as he made his way to the door.

Just before he reached it, a pink beam of energy went through it and hit his left arm. Within moments, an all too familiar mark appeared around his wrist.

"What was that?" Gaara asked as he entered the shop with Jellal. The former Wizard Saint looked concerned.

He felt someone scratching letters on his left arm, preventing him from paying attention to Gaara's question too much.

"We left. Where can we meet you?" Naruto said with a smile as he strung the letters together. He shook his head as he looked at his comrades. "Crime Sorciere is about to get bigger. That beam you saw is part of a spell called Sensory Link. It shares feelings between two people with strong emotions towards each other, so I know exactly who used it. It's one of my old comrades from Grimoire Heart. She wants to meet up, and I'm pretty sure Ultear is with her."

He looked at Jellal at the last part.

"I hold no grudge against her, so I would not have a problem if you invited her to join Crime Sorciere," Jellal answered the unspoken question. "I offer no promises about how I'll feel if I regain my memory though."

"Halfway between Hargeon and Akane. We'll be there," Naruto muttered as he wrote the words on his left arm with his fingernail.

"That's where we met," Gaara remarked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"You can trace Crime Sorciere's roots back to that spot, so I think it's fitting that we meet our newest members there. Plus, it'll be a good spot for us to use this at," Naruto said, looking at the wooden box.

"It is fitting," Jellal agreed, while Gaara simply nodded.

"I'd like to get there pretty fast, so I'm going to speed things up. Oh, swift wind that dashes though the heavens! Vernier!" Naruto chanted, forming a transparent blue sphere of magic around himself and one the same color as sand around Gaara. They faded from view within moments though.

"Let's go then," Jellal said as he was surrounded by a golden aura, signaling Meteor.

The moment they opened the door, they left the shop at incredible speed before they took flight.

* * *

Naruto, Jellal, and Gaara waited at the meeting point for about an hour before the former Grimoire Heart mages arrived.

"I thought you said two, not three," Jellal commented as he felt the magical power of their guests.

That caught Naruto's attention. Within moments, he sensed it as well, and a grin came to his face.

Before long, the boat came to a stop at the bottom of the cliff that overlooked the ocean.

"I hope you don't mind if we accept your invitation," Ultear said as she jumped up from the boat. Naruto took note of a knife wound on her stomach that she had frozen shut.

"Naruto!" Meredy exclaimed as she landed next to Ultear. She ran towards Naruto and tackled him in a hug, reminding him of Wendy's last greeting.

"I figured I'd tag along and see what you've been up to. You offered to let me join you a while back," the final person said as he landed on the other side of Ultear.

"It's been a long time," Naruto stated as he hugged Meredy and looked at the person that was once his best friend. "But you're always welcome to join me. It's been a long time since we've seen each other, Zancrow."

The Flame God Slayer grinned at that, though it was far less maniacal than it used to be.

"Jellal!" Ultear exclaimed as she saw who was with Naruto. She had not heard that they were working together. Grimoire Heart had been very busy in the last month though, which easily explained why she was unaware of such a thing.

"You should have Naruto look at your injury," Jellal stated, looking a little concerned for the woman, despite the fact that he had ever reason to dislike her.

"Jellal lost his memory, but he's been told about the type of stuff he did before he lost it," Naruto remarked as he set Meredy down and walked over to Ultear. He placed a hand to her ice covered injury and began to close the wound within seconds.

"You're better at healing than you used to be," she noted.

"I'm better at a lot of things than I used to be," Naruto pointed out, making Zancrow snigger.

"Try not to flirt in front of Meredy. She's too young to be seeing that," Zancrow teased.

Naruto blushed when he realized how his words could have been taken, making Ultear let out a small laugh.

"I think introductions are in order," Naruto said as he stepped back and cleared his throat. The three mages before us are Zancrow, Ultear, and Meredy. They were part of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. You three… my companions are Jellal and Gaara. Together, we are Crime Sorciere, an independent guild dedicated to the destruction of dark guilds."

"That's an interesting name," Ultear commented.

"Jellal came up with the name and the symbol, actually," Naruto chuckled. He pointed his right index finger at the ground off to the side of them and traced a symbol in the air. He then thrust the finger forward, carving the symbol in the ground with his wind blades. It took on the form of a stylized _s_ but with a unique skull in the middle of it. It actually looked like the skull was wearing a wizard's hat.

"Were you planning on coming after Grimoire Heart?" Zancrow asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"As long as you three were part of it, I wasn't planning on going after it directly," Naruto answered truthfully. "So, are you three interested in joining?"

"After all the trouble I've caused, I'm definitely in," Ultear replied with a determined nod.

"I'm going wherever Ultear is, so I'm in too," Meredy agreed.

"I'll join on one condition," Zancrow said with a grin. "It's been over a year since we fought outside of Konoha, and I want to see how far we've come since then. So if you fight me, I'll join."

"That saves me time, then," Naruto chuckled. "I was hoping we'd get a rematch before too long, to be honest."

"Boys," Ultear muttered, though a smile could be seen on her face.

"Let's get some distance from them so don't get caught in the crossfire," Jellal said, already knowing how reckless Naruto could get in a fight.

"Jellal, catch this," Naruto said as he threw the wooden box that he had gotten in Hargeon to him. "I don't want to break it. If you want, you can start giving out the marks."

"No, you will get the first one. You are the founder, after all," Jellal disagreed, shaking his head.

"Fair enough," Naruto sighed. He did not see why it mattered, but if Jellal really wanted him to be the first one to get Crime Sorciere's mark, then he would accept it. He pulled his jacket and headphones off after a moment of thought, and he tossed them to Ultear, who caught them on instinct. "I'd rather be safe than sorry."

"Let's get this party started!" Zancrow exclaimed as he inhaled a deep breath.

Ultear and Meredy quickly moved to Jellal's side at that point, seeing that Zancrow was getting impatient.

Zancrow shot his Flame God's Bellow at Naruto, surprising Gaara and Jellal, who were unaware of his abilities.

Naruto just smiled as he placed his right fist against his left open hand in a distinctive stance that made Ultear's eyes widen. "Wind-Make: Fan," he intoned as he shifted his hands in front of him, overlapping with both palms pointed towards the black fireball that was flying towards him.

Wind took the form of an _x_ in front of Naruto that began to spin at incredible speeds, sending a continuous gust of air at the fireball. By the time it came within a dozen feet of Naruto, the fireball was only the side of a head.

Even so, Naruto did not allow it to hit him. Instead, he used excessive force.

He canceled his Wind-Make spell and simply opened his mouth. Without even inhaling a deep breath first, he released a twister of black wind from his mouth. It smothered Zancrow's fireball and shot towards him without slowing down in the slightest.

"Flame God's Explosive Bullet," Zancrow quickly said as black fire covered his right arm and he punched forward, sending a medium sized fireball towards the Sky God's Bellow. Upon contact, it exploded in a wave of black fire. It weakened the attack, but it still hit him and pushed him back to the very edge of the cliff.

"You've grown," Naruto commented.

"How strong has Naruto become?" Ultear asked in surprise as she watched Naruto easily handle Zancrow. He had always been strong, but he was not the same as he used to be. She had thought that her own abilities had come a great ways in the last year, but he had improved even more.

"He's never been the type to stop getting stronger," Meredy commented as she felt the sheer power radiating from him throughout the fight.

"The difference in their power is too vast. At one time, it may have been close, but Naruto has improved a great deal lately. I suspect that it would be a closer fight if Gaara was involved instead of Naruto. They seem to be around the same level, power wise," Jellal explained, making Ultear look at Gaara thoughtfully.

"How have you become this strong?" Zancrow asked, surprised by how much stronger Naruto appeared to be.

"True strength comes from purpose, and my purpose has become greater since I left Grimoire Heart than it was when I was part of it," Naruto answered with a smile. "But, I think it's time to show you how strong I've become. I'll let you have a rematch with me later on down the road since this one turned out like this." He held his right hand out in front of him at that point, an a spiraling sphere of black wind formed in front of it. At its full size, it was almost making physical contact with his hand. "This is the Sky God's Rasengan."

He began to dash forward to hit Zancrow with it, but a golden streak suddenly shot towards him and grasped his wrist firmly.

"Don't be an idiot, Naruto," Jellal sighed as he maintained a firm grip on his wrist. "That's not a spell you use in spars, regardless of how carried away you get. Plus, your friend looks like he hasn't fully recovered from wherever he was before he came here, so he isn't at full power."

"Right," Naruto chuckled weakly as he canceled the spell and Zancrow sighed in relief. He had sensed the power within that spell, after all.

Jellal released his grip on Naruto's wrist at that point.

"Naruto, we need to tell you guys about what happened before we came here," Ultear suddenly said, catching the attention of the original members of Crime Sorciere. "I got carried away when I saw you again, but I should have told you about it when we arrived. Grimoire Heart went to Fairy Tail's sacred place, Tenrou Island. There, we waged war against Fairy Tail and discovered that Zeref was there."

"What?" Naruto asked in shock. Jellal and Gaara looked to be doing no better either.

"That's what led to us leaving. Fairy Tail actually managed to beat Grimoire Heart, and even Hades fell in the end. We'll explain the details of that later, but what's really important is what happened after we were beaten," Ultear stated.

"And that is?" Naruto questioned. "And weren't they having their S-Class Promotion Trial, or something?"

"Yeah, they were," Zancrow answered as he stepped forward. "But that's not the important thing. Zeref was never asleep or sealed. He apparently learned the value of human life, and that resulted in him appearing to be sealed. On the airship after Grimoire Heart was beaten, I watched Zeref kill Hades with his Death Magic."

"Hades is dead?" Naruto whispered. Despite all that the man had done against him since he left Grimoire Heart, he was not sure how to feel about that news.

"And Acnologia, the Black Dragon in the Book of Apocalypse, destroyed Tenrou Island with its breath attack after we got off of it," Ultear said in a grave tone. "Naruto, Fairy Tail was still on the island when it happened."

Naruto felt his heart stop when he heard those words. Jiraiya had informed him of the S-Class Promotion Trial, actually, and he had told him who all would be there. He did not want to imagine all of Fairy Tail's strongest mages annihilated, but that did not even compare to how he felt about the prospect that Wendy was present.

"So, that's why I felt as though Erza was calling out to me last night," Jellal stated calmly. He looked Naruto in the eyes before he spoke again. "I would know if Erza was dead. It's like a sixth sense to me. So don't worry. If Erza was not killed by Acnologia, then it is unlikely that Wendy was. We'll just have to be patient and see the truth of the incident for ourselves down the road."

"Thanks, I needed that," Naruto said as he took a deep breath. "Instead of worrying about that, we should go about marking everyone as official members of Crime Sorciere."

The atmosphere around them seemed to grow light at that point, and the new recruits wondered what all Naruto had been through since leaving Grimoire Heart.

* * *

Author's Note: And there's an end to my longest chapter so far.

As you may have noticed, the first scene of the chapter is very canon-based. I read the manga and watched the anime just so I could get that part close to how it was originally done. I always loved the Ultear-Meredy scene in canon. It was just one of those well done scenes that leaves a lasting impact.

In case you're curious about Naruto's magic headphones... there's a picture of them in black and white on the Fairy Tail wiki. Naruto has the Lacrima Version, while Laxus has the Sound Pod version. I called Naruto's the normal lacrima version simply to make it clear that the lacrima isn't the only thing about them that are different from what Laxus uses.

Also, if someone could do me a favor, I would appreciate it. Should it be lacrima or lacrimas when I'm referring to more than one? I tried finding it on the Fairy Tail wiki, but it's lacrima in some places and lacrimas in at least one place.

Now, I know some people may not have liked the Naruto-Zancrow fight very much, but it was not intended to be an extended fight. It's kind of like Erza vs Laxus in the Fighting Festival Arc, to be honest. And yes, Naruto is now at roughly the same level as Laxus was during the Fighting Festival Arc, though Laxus would likely exceed him in Magic Power when he uses Dragon Force. Naruto is not as strong as Laxus was during the Tenrou Island Arc though. I'd definitely say that Laxus improved quite a bit between being excommunicated and fighting Hades, personally.

Anyways, now that I've reached the start of the canon time-skip, the majority of my plans come into play.

On one final note, I'd like to thank everyone for reading and reviewing up to this point. I'm very happy with all the interest this story has gathered, especially on the review side. One thing that is probably said the most about this story is how often I update it. Frankly, I've never been on a streak like this with any story, original or fanfiction. I do not write chapters in advance, so I haven't even opened a document for Chapter 15 at this point, and yet, I have written over 50k words for this story in 10 days. I wish I knew why I can do this with this story but can't with others.


	15. Aftermath

**15. Aftermath**

_-December 16, X784_

Roughly nine hours had passed since the annihilation of Tenrou Island, but things were not slowing down, it seemed.

"This emergency meeting is being held to discuss the recent events on Tenrou Island," Guran Doma stated as he sat in the Council's meeting chambers with the other nine members of the Magic Council.

"There is a great deal to discuss," Tsunade agreed from her seat, though it was easy to tell that she was not exactly pleased that she was agreeing with him. "But we should start at the beginning. Who granted permission to Doranbolt to infiltrate Fairy Tail in such a way? It goes against the agreements we have with the mage guilds. Are we really stooping to trickery to try to disband a guild?"

"I do not believe that is an issue worth discussing," Dan Kato said from his position next to the door. He was granted permission to be present for the meeting, though he was not actually supposed to participate in it. That did not stop him, of course. "I am displeased that one of my Rune Knights was allowed to do something like that without even informing me, but his presence there was too useful to dismiss. I do not believe that there will be any attempts to disband Fairy Tail now, anyways."

Tsunade looked at him carefully, be she decided not to say anything in opposition to him. He was more experienced at dealing with the Council she was, so he clearly had a purpose behind his words.

"Knight-Commander Kato speaks with wisdom," Org stated with a nod of agreement. "There are other issues that are of greater importance. Grimoire Heart's presence on Tenrou Island was surprising enough, but we could never have expected the presence of Zeref and later, Acnologia."

"It is incredible to fathom how Zeref is even still alive, but it's almost what you'd expect of a mage like him. If no one could manage to kill him, then it seems almost natural that time couldn't do it either," Tsunade said with a sigh. "What is alarming, however, is that Grimoire Heart seemed to be seeking him."

"Yes, that is definitely worrisome," Org agreed. "As contrary to what we normally say, we were fortunate that Fairy Tail was present on Tenrou Island. They defeated Grimoire Heart and prevented them from getting their hands on Zeref."

"Why is it that we are never directly involved in incidents like this?" Tsunade asked seriously. "We had men standing by that could have helped, but they just sat back and allowed Fairy Tail to handle it by themselves."

Several members of the Magic Council looked uncomfortable at the question, but no one offered an answer. Dan could actually be seen, nodding his head in agreement with her. He had not even been told that Lahar and his subordinates were at the island until after the incident was over.

"Perhaps we should discuss the annihilation of Tenrou Island," Org interjected, making the room go somber, especially on the part of Tsunade.

"The destruction of Tenrou Island and everyone on it was a tragedy," Guran stated, surprising Tsunade. "Many of us dislike them for the antics, but disbandment was all that we would have liked. The deaths of so many members… that is certainly not anything to be pleased about. Through the actions of Acnologia, we have lost great mages like Makarov Dreyar, Gildarts Clive, Erza Scarlet, and Mirajane Strauss, along with three practitioners of Dragon Slayer Magic. There is even a report that Laxus Dreyar was present on the island, though he was only sensed, not seen. It is for this reason that I believe that we should begin a search of the surrounding waters. It is unlikely that we will find anything, but there is still a chance."

"That's a good idea, but we also need to make sure to keep an eye out for Zeref," Dan added. "There is no proof that he was on Tenrou Island when it was destroyed. Likewise, the loss of Fairy Tail's strongest members will likely make the dark guilds more active. Grimoire Heart's defeat may result in the breaking of the Balam Alliance, but even if it does, that does not mean things will go our way."

"Agreed," Guran said with a sigh. He then removed a piece of paper from his robe and placed it on the table. "There is another issue too. Over the last month, this mark has been carved into the headquarters of ten different dark guilds."

He slid it forward after that, and the members of the Magic Council saw what the mark looked like. It was not anything that they had ever seen before.

"We found that a guild stamp has been ordered with that mark on it, and the name that was given for the guild was _Crime Sorciere_. The shop owner that ordered it was found this afternoon. He was knocked unconscious when he refused to sell it to the customer. Apparently, he only learned of the customer's status after it was ordered. That customer was Naruto Uzumaki," Guran continued.

Silence reigned throughout the meeting chambers at that statement.

"So, he's formed an independent guild instead of continuing as just three independent mages working together," Tsunade mused.

"Independent guild? What makes you think that it isn't a dark guild?" Guran asked in a challenging tone.

"Technically speaking, it could be considered a dark guild if they accepted any job without the approval of the Magic Council. If they are not accepting any paying jobs, however, then they cannot be classified as a dark guild," Tsunade answered with a smirk. "As it is, they are working to take down dark guilds, so I'd say that _independent_ is the best term for them."

"She is correct," Org remarked. "But I fail to see how this is an issue. He's doing exactly what he's always done, though you have forbidden the Rune Knights to answer his calls."

"We cannot allow the public to lose faith in us and to begin relying on a group of rogue mages, especially when they contain members like Naruto Uzumaki and Jellal Fernandes," Guran stated in an uncompromising tone.

"If you feel that way, then I'd like to make a proposal, Chairman Doma," Dan interjected, catching everyone's attention.

* * *

In a building surrounded by forest to the northeast of Oak Town, a young man with dark skin was kneeling before his Master.

"So, Fairy Tail was destroyed by Acnologia, of all things?"

"Yes, Master Jose. It would appear that it happened after they defeated Grimoire Heart on Tenrou Island," the young man answered.

"This works in my favor, it would seem. I thank you for bringing this news to me, Boze," the older man said with a sinister smile on his face. "With Fairy Tail out of the way, I can move on to the next stage of my plans. It is unfortunate that Gajeel and Juvia left us to join Fairy Tail, but perhaps it was for the best, in the end. We will begin recruiting now, and then we will reveal our true power to the world."

"But Master, what if the Council doesn't let us reform?" the young man asked, trying not to anger his master.

"I have no intention of asking those fools if we can reform. After they ordered us to disband, do you really think I would care to serve under them again in any manner? No… it is time to take advantage of the recent destruction of so many dark guilds, the disbandment of Oracion Seis, and the defeat of Grimoire Heart," the older man answered, waving the question off without any sign of concern. "We will rise to be the strongest dark guild in the world. If you have a problem with that, feel free to speak now."

"My loyalty is to Phantom Lord only, Master Jose," Boze said obediently.

"That is good to hear," Jose Porla stated as he rose to his feet. With Fairy Tail out of the way, there would be no one who could stop him now.

* * *

Deep within a hidden underground base, a man in his mid-twenties with white hair stood before an older man with pale skin and distinctive snake-like eyes.

"This is certainly unexpected," the older man remarked.

"Yes, it is, Master Orochimaru," the younger man agreed. "I have confirmed it though. It would appear that Grimoire Heart has been disbanded too. With the death of Hades, Bluenote Stinger decided that he had no intention of continuing Grimoire Heart. I managed to find most of the mages he threw out of the airship."

"That's good to hear," Orochimaru said, visibly pleased. "Tell me, Kabuto… did you manage to collect any of the Seven Kin of Purgatory?"

"Unfortunately, there were only two among them, Rustyrose and Kain Hikaru," Kabuto answered with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Apparently, Azuma never boarded the airship and Caprico once again became Capricorn before Hades was even defeated, so those two are lost to us. Also, it appears that Ultear, Zancrow, and Meredy all left the guild around the same time they left Tenrou Island. Rustyrose suspects that they went to join Naruto Uzumaki."

"We will have to deal with them down the road, but they are not a concern for now," Orochimaru said with a dismissive wave. "Do not concern yourself with Naruto Uzumaki at the moment. With the additions of the Grimoire Heart mages and the individuals that we will collect shortly, we will have gained even more power than before. I suspect that the attention of _that group_ will turn to Bluenote Stinger and Phantom Lord before long."

"Do you think Phantom Lord will have any success as a dark guild?" Kabuto asked.

"If they joined Raven Tail, Tartaros, even Ouroboros, then they would," Orochimaru answered with a smile. "But Jose is too prideful to accept working under someone else. He would never accept an alliance either. That, combined with his inability to think straight when his ego is wounded, means that his dark guild if destined to fail. I admit that his strength is quite impressive, but his strength will not guarantee him victory. For that same reason, it is likely that Bluenote will suffer his final defeat within the next year."

"Things will be interesting to watch, regardless," Kabuto noted.

"Indeed," Orochimaru chuckled, though it sounded bone-chilling. "Also, there is a slight change of plan regarding your next assignment. I have decided to grant your request."

Kabuto bowed low at those words. "Thank you, Master Orochimaru."

"You will not be the only one to benefit from it," Orochimaru remarked. "Now, I would suggest that you prepare for it. I would like it to happen within the next few days. Feel free to make it difficult for anyone to tell which ones we took."

With a bow and a smile that bordered on maniacal, Kabuto left the room.

* * *

To the northeast of Akane Resort, the headquarters of a dark guild had been built a few years back. It was considered an unfavorable place due to the gorians of the forest, however, so the dark guild had abandoned it and built a new one. It had been through sheer luck that Naruto had learned of the guild hall's location. As far as he knew, not even Jiraiya had heard of the place before, which made it Crime Sorciere's most secure base.

After leaving the spot where Crime Sorciere had met up with the former Grimoire Heart mages, they had immediately headed there.

A rather annoying issue had popped up before they arrived, however.

Naruto, Gaara, and Jellal could fly.

Ultear, Meredy, and Zancrow could not.

In the end, Meredy had flown on Jellal's back, Ultear had ridden on Gaara's sand, and Zancrow ran below them with the help of Vernier.

Zancrow had ended up running because he had made the suggestion that Naruto carry Ultear bridal style while he flew. Something about that had made Ultear declare that she would be riding on the sand. Naturally, Naruto was not about to carry Zancrow, and Gaara was not offering to increase the size of his cloud of sand.

After telling the story of what happened on Tenrou Island in detail, most of the members of Crime Sorciere had made their way to the dormitoriy that had been built to house the members of the guild that it was intended for.

Naruto and Ultear stayed in the dining room though.

"So… what are you planning next?" Ultear asked curiously as she looked at the founder of Crime Sorciere.

In response, Naruto held out his hand, and a rolled up map appeared in it. He set it down and unrolled it, revealing numbers spread out across it. There was a handwritten key to the map off to the side, and it had names listed next to numbers.

"This is a map of every dark guild in Fiore that we know about. The ones that are crossed off are ones that we've already destroyed," Naruto explained as he turned the map so that she could see it. "I'd like you to tell me which ones work for Grimoire Heart. Now that we have six members, we don't have to be so cautious, so I was thinking that we should wipe out all of their subordinate guilds in the next two weeks."

"That's ambitious," Ultear remarked, though she sounded approving. "When Oracion Seis fell, Grimoire Heart took over all of their subordinate guilds that you didn't manage to get during the Nirvana Incident. If we act fast enough, we can do as you suggest, but I don't think you're going to want to be involved in it."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked with a frown.

"I wanted to wait until everyone was asleep before I brought this up, so hear me ago," Ultear replied with a serious look in her eyes. "Thirty-three years ago, a boy named Minato Namikaze left the village of Konoha and became the apprentice of Jiraiya of the Legendary Three Mages. According to those that personally knew him, he was always a genius. He mastered Speed Magic and Jiraiya's _Toad_ when he was thirteen. Within two more years, he managed to create a powerful spell known as Rasengan. Within three more years, he mastered various seal-based forms of magic and developed a space-time magic known as Hiraishin that allowed him to instantly teleport anything to a special seal-based marker. Its creation was what got him a position among the Ten Wizard Saints when he was the same age that you are now."

"I'm surprised that you know so much about my father," Naruto remarked. "But why are you telling me this?"

"I'm telling you this for a reason," Ultear reassured him. "While he was one of the Ten Wizard Saints, he met a dark mage by the name of Kushina Uzumaki. Like you, she joined a dark guild when she was young. He ended up redeeming her and used his position to get the Magic Council to leave her alone, though he had to leave Fairy Tail in the process. Five years after he left, he was living pretty much in the middle of nowhere , and Kushina had become his wife. She was also pregnant with a boy… you."

Naruto had to give it to her. She was good at digging up information. Now that he was hearing it, he regretted not asking about it before then.

"Shortly after they learned that she was pregnant, he found out about Grimoire Heart. He quickly learned of their plans and discovered that Hades was actually Purehito. Your father gave him a chance to turn away from his ambitions. If Hades refused, Minato was going to reveal all of his information. I found that out by reading the journal that Hades kept. The pages had been torn out of it and burned to keep anyone from learning that much, but my Arc of Time repaired it," Ultear explained in a somber tone.

Naruto froze as he imagined what she was going to say next.

In his silence, Ultear continued, "The Balam Alliance had just been formed between Grimoire Heart and Tartaros, and revealing that Hades was actually the Second Master of Fairy Tail… well, that would have been enough to make Tartaros break the agreement. Your father's greatest mistake was letting Hades think about it. From what I gather, Hades showed up at your parents' house shortly after you were born, and he brought Bluenote and a hundred dark mages. There were no records written records of the battle, but it's obvious what happened when you look at all the information. The cause of both of your parents' deaths was determined to be Bullet Magic. There was also evidence that Gravity Magic was used in the fight that killed them. The information that Hades kept stored in the airship made it clear that a hundred of his subordinates died on the same day that your parents died."

"Hades and Bluenote killed my parents?" Naruto asked in shock. While he did not have any memories of them, it was still hard to hear. He had always been grateful towards Hades for saving him from his life in Konoha and giving him power. Now, he was hearing that it was because of Hades that he was orphaned in the first place. Jiraiya may have made a mistake when he sent him to Konoha, but Hades was the one that made that mistake possible in the first place.

"You were only a few months old, so there were only a few people that even knew of your existence," Ultear replied, nodding her head. "Hades never connected you with Minato until you heritage was revealed to the Magic Council. It was only after I reported that to him that he sent Bluenote after you. Her tone grew apologetic at that point, but Naruto waved her off.

"Do not blame yourself, Ultear. You were only following orders. Sure, I wish that you had not revealed your treachery to the Magic Council and that Jellal had pretended that _Siegrain_ was the only one behind the Etherion Incident, but that's just because we wouldn't be wanted in that case. If that had happened, then we could really pass off Jellal as Siegrain's brother and you as Jiraiya's spy in Grimoire Heart. But we can't change the past. We can only change the future and atone for our past sins," Naruto said kindly as he made eye contact with his friend. "I'm glad that Bluenote came after me when he did, to be honest. It proves that the information you got was right, and it makes my plans clear. Tomorrow, you, Meredy, and Jellal will leave to take care of half of the guilds that were under Grimoire Heart, while Zancrow and Gaara go to take care of the other half."

"You're going after Bluenote," Ultear stated with a frown. "You're not at his level. You cannot afford to go after him alone."

"It's a matter of pride," Naruto sighed. "I have to do this alone."

"Are you trying to be stupid again?"

Naruto's eyes widened as he turned to the doorway and saw that Jellal was standing there with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.

"I was coming to get a drink of water, and I heard Ultear talk about what happened to your parents. It was not my intention to eavesdrop, but it is a good thing I heard as much as you did," Jellal said as he entered the room and took a seat at the table. "Gaara will go with Zancrow and Meredy, and they will handle all of the dark guilds under Grimoire Heart. Ultear and I will go with you to take care of Bluenote Stinger."

Ultear looked surprised that she was being volunteered for a mission like that, but she did not speak against it.

"Jellal, this is my battle," Naruto insisted.

"As your friend, it is my responsibility to stop you from doing stupid things," Jellal pointed out. "If I come with you, we cannot split into three teams to do what you want us to. I don't think we should split into a team of two and a team of four, though. It makes more sense to work in two teams of three. I'm the obvious choice to come with you if you're going to face someone that single-handedly beat you and Gaara a while back. Unfortunately, Gaara cannot be the other person to go with us either. You will need him to lead the others to take out the dark guilds. Other than you, he is the most experienced one at it."

"Why did you suggest Ultear though?" Naruto asked curiously, knowing that he would not win this argument. He shot her a look, making sure she did not take offense to it.

"If this is so dangerous that she is worried that you may not return alive, then there is no way that I am even considering bringing someone as young as Meredy," Jellal stated bluntly, earning a relieved look from Ultear. "And frankly, I'd rather have someone more level-headed than Zancrow working with us. It does not hurt that her magic appears to be very useful."

"Do you want to come with us?" Naruto asked Ultear with a slight sigh.

"Yes, I am," Ultear answered. "Meredy will be safe with Zancrow and Gaara, especially if they are not going up against average dark mages. And to be completely honest, as the one that learn of Bluenote's actions in the first place, I feel that I need to be there with you."

"Fine, we'll leave in the morning. I'll contact Jiraiya in a little bit with my Communication Lacrima and ask him if he can find out where the airship was last spotted. If it's as damaged as Zancrow said it was, it's probably on the ground right now. Without Arc of Time, they won't be able to repair it that fast either," Naruto said as he took a deep breath.

"I'm glad to see that you're agreeable," Jellal remarked.

"And don't try to run off without you. If you do, we might have to ask Meredy to use her Sensory Link on you. I wonder how you'd react if she started eating fresh vegetables," Ultear mused, making Naruto gag slightly at the thought of his least favorite food in existence.

Naruto shook his head as he stood up and made his way out of the room. He stopped at the door to speak. "I'll call Jiraiya now and try to get that thought out of my head. Why don't you start marking those locations on the map so we can give it to Gaara tomorrow?"

"I'll start working on that," Ultear said as she looked at the map again. "Will you tell Jiraiya about how your father died or why you really want to find Bluenote?"

"I'll tell him… after Bluenote is dead," Naruto answered before continuing on out of the door.

Once he was gone, Ultear looked at Jellal carefully.

"Jellal, I know you don't remember it all, but I am sorry for everything I did to you," Ultear apologized.

"Naruto had to tell me the full truth to make me understand, but I don't blame you. Even if you did manipulate me, there's no way you could have actually controlled my every action," Jellal replied. "If you really want to have this conversation, we should wait until my memory returns."

Ultear nodded, though she stopped a few moments later as a thought occurred to her. "Has Naruto attempted to heal your mind?"

"I asked him not to try yet," Jellal answered as he rose to his feet. "I'm a little scared, to be honest. If I regained my memories, I could revert to my old self, and that's not something I want. Maybe the memories of my time in Crime Sorciere will make sure that I don't completely become the old me again. That's why I'd like to at least have another few months before he tries to heal my mind."

"I think I can relate," Ultear admitted, thinking about her old self as well.

Jellal simply nodded as he left the room, not wishing to continue discussing the subject.

* * *

Author's Note: And that's an end to another chapter.

The long awaited rematch between Naruto and Bluenote will be coming up soon. And don't worry, I don't intend on Naruto, Jellal, and Ultear all working together in the fight. That would be a bit too much, unless I weakened them, which I don't want to do.

Now, I hope I surprised some people with the short Jose Porla and Orochimaru scenes. They will be antagonists with an entire arc devoted to each one. In my mind, Jose and Bluenote are around the same level, though I'm not completely sure about that. If you agree or disagree, feel free to say so. Personally, the way they compared Jose and Makarov so much is the reason that I think he's around Bluenote's level, but I have been known to be wrong.

And wow, I can't believe I wrote another 4k word chapter without even trying. Maybe my overall chapters are just getting longer. Whatever the case, I'm pleased about it.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing. You're continued support is what makes this update rate possible.


	16. Rematch

**16. Rematch**

_-December 17, X784_

"Why did you ask me to come here?" Jiraiya asked sharply, almost as though he was speaking to an insolent child.

Guran Doma narrowed his eyes at the tone as he and his peers sat before Jiraiya. They were using the courtroom in Era to meet with them, though they had maintained that it was not a trial. They merely wanted to speak with him. It was obvious that they had chosen the courtroom to unease Jiraiya, though only Tsunade had known how foolish it was to do that.

"Your distress at recent events is understandable, but you would do well to remember who you are speaking to," Guran stated coldly.

"I am retired as a mage. I no longer answer to the Magic Council," Jiraiya remarked. "So tell me why you asked me to come here, or I'm leaving."

Guran bristled at that, but Tsunade spoke before he could. "The old fart wants to question you about Crime Sorciere."

"That is out of line," Guran hissed as he glared at Tsunade. He turned his eyes to Jiraiya at that point. "As one of the Ten Wizard Saints, you are still under our jurisdiction."

"When the Magic Council heard what kind of books I was starting to write eleven years ago, they requested that I either change my subject matter or retire my post as one of the Ten Wizard Saints. My position was awarded to Jose Porla. Even if that position is up for grabs now, you can't force me to accept it. I have no intention of joining any guilds, agreeing to serve the Magic Council, or accepting a position among the Ten Wizard Saints. I know you have three spots open because of the Fairy Tail-Phantom Lord Guild War, the Etherion Incident, and the Tenrou Incident, but I won't be accepting any of them. Get that through your thick skull," Jiraiya said with a hint of anger in his voice. "Now, ask your damned questions and get on with it."

With narrowed eyes, Guran finally began to ask the questions that Jiraiya had been called there for. "Are you providing information to Crime Sorciere?"

"Yes," Jiraiya answered nonchalantly.

Outrage could be heard in the shouts of several Council members at that admission.

"For consorting with dark mages, we can have you arrested," Guran stated.

"You could," Jiraiya chuckled. "But who would provide your Rune Knights with information on dark guilds then? The better question is… what would you do when the rumors spread? Don't underestimate me. The moment you arrest me, word will immediately get out that you have filed charges of treason against the son of Minato Namikaze."

"That's assuming that there's anyone in here that can arrest him," Tsunade commented dryly.

"You're playing a dangerous game," Guran remarked. "Where is Crime Sorciere located?"

"They don't have a headquarters, actually. I have a better question, though," Jiraiya said. "How many members are there? I bet you have no idea."

"There are three," Guran replied, feeling sure of himself.

"Actually there were three originally, but there are six now," Jiraiya said with a grin. "I won't tell you anything more about them."

He turned around and walked out of the courtroom with those words, ignoring the looks of shock and bewilderment.

"You really do like to piss people off so much that they just walk out, don't you," Tsunade commented, thinking of Anko.

* * *

"Is there any reason in particular that they're going after all of the guilds when you know exactly where Bluenote is?" Ultear asked curiously as she ran through the forest with Naruto and Jellal.

Earlier that morning, Naruto had told the others about the plan they came up with. He had not told them that Jiraiya had been able to find the airship with one of his toads, allowing him to know exactly where to find Bluenote.

"I do find it odd that you would do something like that," Jellal admitted. "We're supposed to meet up on the thirty-first, but what are we going to do until then?"

"Ultear, what made Grimoire Heart such an elusive guild?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"The airship," she replied, matter-of-factly. "Why?"

A light flashed in Jellal's eyes as he understood what Naruto was planning.

"You want to set up a permanent headquarters for Crime Sorciere, using Grimoire Heart's airship," Jellal realized.

"That will give us time to change how it looks so no one thinks we are Grimoire Heart," Ultear remarked, surprised at Naruto's plan.

"Yeah, you figured it out," Naruto said with a chuckle. "That's also why I wanted to meet up in the same spot where I first saw the airship."

"Is that the only reason you picked that spot?" Ultear asked curiously.

"No," Naruto admitted, shaking his head. "I do want to visit Konoha one last time. They won't have any idea that we're criminals since the village is so reclusive, and I feel that I need to face my past before I can really move on."

Ultear and Jellal both nodded in understanding at that. Ultear had personal experience with it, and Jellal felt that he would have to face his past before he could truly move on as well.

"We're getting close," Naruto remarked as he faintly sensed his target.

"Naruto, you might want to use your support magic now," Jellal suggested.

"Right," Naruto said as he closed his eyes. "Oh, strengthen of arm to cleave the heavens! Arms!"

An aura of magic surrounded the arms and legs of all three Crime Sorciere mages, bolstering their strength and attack power.

"Incredible," Ultear whispered as she felt the power rush through her.

"Oh, strengthen of body to guard the heavens! Armor!"

The aura of magic enveloped the entire bodies of all three mages at that, bolstering their defenses, physical and magical.

Naruto opened his eyes before he said the final one, knowing that he could run through a tree otherwise. "And finally… oh, swift wind that dashes through the heavens! Vernier!"

A spherical aura of magic surrounded Naruto and Ultear at that, increasing their speed.

"Let's go," Naruto said as he dashed forward with Ultear following him.

"Meteor," Jellal intoned as a golden aura surrounded him, and he flew alongside them.

* * *

"This is unexpected," Bluenote remarked as he saw Naruto, Ultear, and Jellal emerge from the forest surrounding the airship.

He had parked it there while he worked on repairing it, though it was no his strong suit. It was a very useful headquarters, which was why he had used his Gravity Magic to throw his former comrades out of it instead of simply leaving it.

With Ultear showing up alongside the one person he wanted to kill most of all, Bluenote knew that he could not fight there. If he fought them and beat them right there, she would most likely use her magic to make the damage to the airship worse. As such, he would need to get away from that spot.

His plans changed within moments though.

Ultear rushed towards the airship and entered it. It immediately began to be restored.

"That belongs to me. You're not going to steal it," Bluenote said angrily.

"I don't think so," Naruto said as he appeared in front of Bluenote and punched him in the face with a wind covered fist that sent him flying back a surprising distance.

Before Bluenote could hit the ground, he found himself under attack again. In a flash of gold, Jellal appeared above him and delivered a kick to his stomach, smashing him into the ground.

"That did not take long," Jellal remarked as the airship began to fly up into the air.

"The plan worked," Naruto agreed as he watched Bluenote rise to his feet. "The airship is out of the way of our fight, so we can go all out now."

Ultear had not been pleased about that plan, seeing as how she would have to stay with the ship while it was in the air, but Naruto had reassured her that he could win with Jellal at his side.

"That was a big mistake," Bluenote said with a furious look in his eyes. "Fall!"

Naruto and Jellal felt an incredible force of gravity begin to pull them down, but they were able to stay in the air with less difficult than they had suspected.

That did not stop the ground from dropping a dozen feet, much like it did the last time that Naruto fought Bluenote.

"You can withstand my gravity far more easily than before," Bluenote remarked in surprise.

"Yeah, I can," Naruto agreed as he slammed his right fist against his left palm and then raised his right hand above his head. "Wind-Make: Disc"

A barely visible disc of wind formed above his hand, though it only stood in place for a second before he brought his arm down and threw it.

"That won't reach me," Bluenote stated as he sent a wave of gravity at it that simply destroyed it.

"It wasn't meant to," Jellal whispered.

Bluenote's eyes widened as he spun around to see Jellal throwing a punch at his face.

At the last moment, Jellal's hand opened, and golden flames shot from it and hit Bluenote in the face.

"Flame of Rebuke," Jellal intoned as he suddenly flew backwards, making sure he maintained some distance from him.

"Sky God's Bellow," Naruto said as he expelled a twister of black wind at Bluenote. Surprisingly, he did not do anything to stop it. It simply slammed into his back and sent him flying forward.

"He's not at full strength," Jellal said as he suddenly flew next to Naruto. "It appears that he has yet to fully recover from his fight with Gildarts Clive yesterday. If we hit him with our strongest spells, we may be able to finish him off."

"You will not beat me so easily," Bluenote said as he rose  
to his feet and held his hands about six inches apart. A dark orb began to appear between them. After a few moments, he sent it forward, stopping between him and his opponents. At that point, it grew ever larger and began to try to suck them toward it with a gravitational field.

"Every spell has a weakness," Jellal stated. He formed a unique hand sign with both hands, acting purely out of instinct. "Grand Chariot!"

Seven magic circles appeared high above him in the form of a constellation. Before Bluenote could even react, a beam of golden energy shot from each circle and converged upon the black hole that he had created. The incredible force of the attacked destroyed the black hole.

"Now," Jellal said as he crossed his arms above his head and a black sphere began to form above him. As it grew in size, it resembled the night sky with solid black dotted in stars.

"Right," Naruto said as he raised his hands into the air and black feather-shaped winds began to form. He brought them behind him quickly, forming a large sphere in preparation of his spell.

"Altairis," Jellal said as he swung his hands down, sending the large black sphere towards Bluenote.

"God Slayer's Secret Art: Heavenly Gathering of Clouds," Naruto intoned as he brought his hands before him, overlapping and facing downward. A stream of the black feather-shaped winds shot towards Bluenote with surprising speed.

"Push!" Bluenote yelled with his hands facing them, releasing a wave of gravity.

Much to his surprise, Jellal's spell did not even slow down as it moved through the wave of gravity and slammed into him.

As he felt the incredible gravity of Altairis hit him and begin to wreck havoc on his body, Bluenote found himself unable to even think of a way to counter the spell.

That was when Naruto's spell gored him through the stomach, leaving a cannonball-sized hole in him.

In the face of two enemies that he had initially dismissed, Bluenote Stinger had lost his life.

* * *

"You're already done?" Ultear asked in disbelief as Naruto and Jellal entered the airship. Naruto was actually holding Bluenote's corpse by the jacket.

"Yeah, we're done here," Naruto replied as he dropped the former Deputy Commander of Grimoire Heart to the floor. "If you don't mind, I'd like to drop off his body at the Magic Council's Fiore branch. I think it'll leave a nice message."

"I don't think you know what the word _nice_ means," Ultear remarked as she shook her head. "I'll go ahead and start getting us moving in that direction, but we'll need to start replenishing the lacrima before too long. We have enough power to fly for about twelve more hours, but we'd fall out of the sky after that."

"Let's get started on that while we head there then," Naruto said as he looked at Jellal.

"Right," the former Wizard Saint replied with a nod.

The pair made their way to the engine room at that point, not too excited at the prospect that the airship could fall out of the sky if they put it off for too long.

* * *

"Damn it, do you really have to keep calling us to meetings?" an irate Tsunade asked as she once again sat in the Magic Council's meeting chambers in Era.

"Bluenote Stinger was dropped off at our Fiore branch, dead," Guran stated, not even caring about her tone at the moment. It had been their third meeting of the day, so he was not too thrilled about it either.

Tsunade blinked in surprise. "What?"

That seemed to be the general reaction of every other member of the Council.

"Crime Sorciere apparently confronted him, killed him, and flew above our Fiore branch, where they dropped him out of an airship. He had a hole the size of a cannonball in his stomach," Guran stated. "He was killed with a form of Wind Magic, apparently."

"It seems that Grimoire Heart is no longer an issue then," Tsunade commented, still trying to take in that information. "Is that really worth an emergency meeting though?"

"This is the first time Crime Sorciere has ever killed in their anti-dark mage actions. That is important to note," Org interjected. "It may hint at escalation."

"Or, they might just know that they needed a more permanent solution than draining him of his magical power or beating him up," Tsunade said dryly. "In case you've forgotten, you are the ones that forbade the Rune Knights from coming to arrest dark mages that they captured. As a result, they cannot ensure that the dark mages they deal with are imprisoned."

A few members of the Magic Council looked uncomfortable at that. Tsunade had been the only one that had voted against that decision, after all.

"We do not need to hear your support for Crime Sorciere," Guran said flatly as he stared at Tsunade. "They are criminals. Just because they are attacking dark guilds now, that does not mean that their crimes should be forgiven."

Tsunade did not speak, instead simply remaining quiet. She wanted to say that it was better to do what they were doing than to rot in a prison cell, but she could not so vocally oppose the Council. She could at least drop in ranking for such a bold statement, and she needed to remain Second Seat for now.

* * *

Author's Note: And that's a wrap to another chapter. I'm not particularly happy with it. It just did not want to be written, it seems. It gave me a minor case of writer's block, though I tried to write though it. That's why it's so short compared to the other chapters. I also think that part of the issue is that I can't seem to write Bluenote's fights well. I'm the same way with Gildarts, actually. They're strong mages, but I get bored with their magic every time I try to write them fight. I don't think it came out too bad though. When you consider that without Arms, Armor, and Vernier, Naruto and Jellal are both at around the same level as Laxus during the Fantasia festival, then I don't think it's too unrealistic for them to have as easy of a time as they did, especially when Bluenote fought Gildarts the previous day. Even with the less than stellar fight, there is a bright side. There are plenty of other powerful enemies to fight.

Oh, and just in case you feel that I made it too easy to break Bluenote's black hole... well, I actually thought of how Nagato's Chibaku Tensei was broken By Naruto, Killer B, and Itachi. I personally think they're just as realistic, but I've been known to be wrong many times.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing.


	17. Facing the Past

**17. Facing the Past**

_-December 31, X784_

Naruto glanced back at the airship one last time before he started to make his way to his destination.

It was currently parked to the north of Konoha in the same clearing where Naruto had first seen it. It had actually been there since the eighteenth, when they had begun working on it to make it fit for Crime Sorciere.

In terms of overall shape, the airship was the same on the outside as it had always been, but it was still noticeably different.

Naruto had attempted to get Ultear and Jellal to agree to paint it black and orange, but that idea had been vetoed without a single thought of consideration. Instead, it was black and white. It still had all of the same designs on it, with the sole exception being the guild symbol on the front of it, which had been changed to the Crime Sorciere emblem.

He had to admit that Ultear's Arc of Time had come in handy throughout the remodeling. In fact, she likely could have done the entire job with it, but she had needed to make the trip to Akane several times in order to buy various things for the ship. She was better at Transformation Magic than Naruto and Jellal were, so she was the ideal choice for that.

They were almost done remodeling the inside of the ship, which was why Naruto was making his way to Konoha at the moment.

He wanted to face his past before Zancrow, Meredy, and Gaara showed up that evening. At least one part of him was looking forward to seeing the expression on their faces when they saw Crime Sorciere's airship. They still had no idea about it, after all.

The journey from the airship to the small village took a little while since he was not using Vernier or flying, but it was still much faster than when he had walked the distance over eight years ago with Hades.

It was still hard for him to believe that the person he had always been thankful for taking him away from the village was partially responsible for him ending up there in the first place.

"I never thought I'd return here," he remarked as the village came within sight.

As it had been the last time he saw it, Konoha looked rather remarkable. There was nothing about it that looked any different than any other village he had been to.

He immediately began to walk into the village, though he soon found himself facing a familiar face.

"Hello, how are you?" a cheerful young woman with pink hair and green eyes greeted with a wave, standing outside of one of the village's few small shops.

"I'm fine, Sakura," Naruto answered calmly, trying to remain indifferent no matter what.

"How do you know my name?" she asked in surprise. She began to stare at him intently at that, and it did not take her long to figure it out. Her eyes widened in shock. "Naruto Uzumaki?"

That name caught the attention of everyone else on the street.

"I'm so glad to see that you remembered me. It brings back so many happy memories," Naruto said, not even trying to hold back the sarcasm.

"What in the hell are you doing here, _mage_?" she spat. "We don't need your kind around here."

Several of the villagers approached them to give Sakura support as they vocally agreed with her.

"It's funny, really," Naruto remarked, not even looking at her. "Mages are the most powerful people in the world. A single mage can destroy an entire town without any help… and yet, you bully and insult mages when they grow up here. I could probably destroy this entire village with a single spell… maybe two."

Fear was evident in the villagers' eyes as they heard his words, though that may have been partially because his magical power had begun to manifest in the form of an aura.

"But, I won't destroy this village, even if you all deserve it," Naruto said with a sigh. "To be honest, I simply don't care what happens to you. It's obvious that you have changed since I left the village eight years ago, so it's easy to see that I don't need to even think about changing my opinion about this place. In the end, I just don't care if you all live or die. If dark mages showed up right now, I'd probably just walk away and let them do it. If not… I'd wait until they were done, and then I'd take care of them."

"We're not scared of you or any other mages!" one of the villagers shouted, making Naruto chuckle darkly.

"In that case, I'll leave and let you continue to be stupid," Naruto said, waving his hand and knocking them all to the ground with a gust of wind. "Perhaps, you should consider being afraid of those that actually have power that you cannot even hope to match.

With those words, Naruto turned around and began to walk away, feeling as though he had done all that he needed to in Konoha.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he reached the clearing where the airship was. He was quite thankful to be away from Konoha already. Facing his past had truthfully felt nice, in all honesty, but he did not wish to ever see the village again, despite that.

A hint of surprise crossed his face as Naruto saw Jellal walking towards him.

"How'd it go?" he asked curiously.

"As well as can be expected," Naruto answered with a shrug. "It needed to be done, but nothing big happened. I guess you could say that I don't feel as much hatred towards Konoha as I expected though. If anything, I just feel… apathetic to the village."

"I see," Jellal commented, looking thoughtful. "Naruto, can you try to heal me?"

That question caught Naruto off guard. The last thing he had expected was for Jellal to ask something like that of him. It was understandable though. The issue of facing one's past had been brought up quite a bit recently, so it was not hard to understand what was motivating him.

"I can try, but I won't make any promises," Naruto replied with a small smile. "I can't heal internal stress, so you're out of luck if that's what is causing the memory loss. If Wendy was here, she could do it, but I'm not her."

"All I can ask you to do is to try," Jellal said, sounding distinctively optimistic.

"Here it goes then," Naruto said as black wind covered his right hand and he placed it atop Jellal's head. He began to focus on healing Jellal's mind as best he could, despite his inexperience at injuries of that nature. He poured a surprising amount of magical power in the spell, discovering that it was not only working on the targeted area.

Due to the Etherion Incident, Jellal's entire body had been negatively affected, which was why he was rendered comatose. When Wendy had healed him during the Nirvana Incident, she had stopped healing when he woke up. As such, Jellal was not completely rid of the taint that the magic of Etherion had left upon him.

Naruto's healing spell, on the other hand, was removing what Wendy had missed. It was apparently within the abilities of his magic to do so.

Minutes passed as he continued to heal him.

After about five minutes, he ended the spell, finding that he had healed everything that he could.

"How do you feel?" he asked with a hint of concern.

A look of horror was clear on Jellal's face as he looked down at the ground.

"I… I remember everything now," Jellal whispered in shock.

Naruto looked at Jellal cautiously at that, not sure how he was going to react now that his memory had returned.

"I almost wish I hadn't asked you to do that," Jellal remarked as he lifted his eyes to Naruto and gave a sad smile. "Thank you for helping me and giving me a chance to redeem myself, Naruto. After having my memories returned to me, I see that I could not begin atoning as long as I could not remember doing the horrible things that I have done."

"And are you tempted to continue doing them?" Naruto asked carefully.

Jellal actually smiled at that. "No, I have no intention of going back to who I once was. Crime Sorciere… that is my purpose now. Together, we can achieve great things and help protect the world against Zeref and the dark mages of the world."

Naruto let out a sigh of relief at that. He had been afraid that he would lose his newest friend after he regained his memory.

"I should warn you about something though," Jellal commented. "Now that I have my memory back… well, you're going to have even more trouble fighting me now. I don't have to simply go by instinct anymore. Now, I can remember every fight I've been in."

"I'm always up for a challenge," Naruto remarked with a grin.

"I'll make sure to tell Ultear that," Jellal stated, making Naruto blush slightly. "So, you do like her."

"Just shut up so we can get aboard," Naruto muttered, looking away from Jellal.

* * *

"This looks a lot better," Naruto commented as he entered the bridge of the airship.

Though it had once been used as a throne room when Grimoire Heart possessed the airship, the bridge had essentially been turned into a room for relaxation. Soft carpet covered the floor, comfortable couches and chairs had been arranged in a circle in the center of the room, and lounge sofas could be seen in the corners of the room, allowing someone to lay down and watch the sky through the glass roof.

That had been the last part of the airship that Naruto had seen, though the rest of it was mostly the way it had always been, though many of the colors had been changed, so as to not appear to belong to a dark guild.

"Thank you," Ultear said with a bright smile from one of the sofa lounges in the room. "They are quite comfortable. It definitely makes all the effort we put in to furnish it worth it."

"That's always good to hear," Naruto remarked as he took a seat in one of the chairs towards the center of the room. "This is definitely going to be a useful headquarters."

"I would think so. Don't forget that we never removed the Jupiter cannon from the airship either," Ultear said with a glint in her eyes.

Naruto began to laugh as he realized that he had never considered it. With a Jupiter cannon at their disposal, their headquarters could definitely help defend itself.

"Where's Jellal?" she asked a moment later, seeing that he had not come with Naruto.

A hint of a frown crossed his face at the question. "He's in his room at the moment. He just got his memory back."

Ultear sat up quickly at that. "He did?"

"Yeah, he asked me to try to heal him, and I managed to restore his memory in the process," Naruto answered. "Why do you ask? Was there something going on between you two?"

Ultear raised an eyebrow at that question, wondering where it came from. "Naruto, I was so obsessed with Zeref that I could not have even thought of having _something going on_ between me and anyone at all. Furthermore, before I left Grimoire Heart, I had only seen Jellal once in my life. I dealt with his Thought Projection every time other than that. Don't come to crazy conclusions. I was only asking because I'm wondering how he'll feel about my past actions now that he has his memory back."

"Right," Naruto muttered, slightly embarrassed. He had been concerned that she was interested in Jellal or that they had a relationship before the Etherion Incident, though he was not sure how he had even thought that it was possible.

"It is interesting to find that you would be so concerned about that," Ultear remarked, easily seeing why he asked about it. "At the present time, I am free of any such entanglements. However, that could possible change." Her tone grew slightly suggestive at the end, making Naruto blush. His inexperience with girls made it difficult for him to calmly hear such stuff.

Instead of replying, Naruto rose to his feet. "Gaara and the others are almost to the clearing. We should head that way now. It appears that they have brought someone back with them."

Ultear looked slightly alarmed as she sensed a fourth presence nearing the airship as well.

"We should go and greet them then," she agreed.

* * *

Upon arriving outside of the airship, Naruto and Ultear saw the three companions they had been waiting on, alongside a young woman that was around Ultear's age.

The woman had a curvaceous figure, long pink hair that was tied in two distinctive knots atop her head, and bright green eyes. She wore a simple white kimono that hung from her shoulders and a pair of sandals with high platform soles that at least made her appear five inches taller than she really was. Perhaps the thing about her that attracted Naruto's attention most, however, was the sheathed katana in her hands. It was quite unremarkable, but she was carrying it, so he would naturally be cautious of it.

"I thought that you were going to destroy dark guilds, not bring a member of one of them with you."

Naruto glanced back and saw Jellal approaching him from behind.

"Hello Ikaruga of Death Head Caucus," Jellal greeted with focused eyes. "It has been a while."

The young woman's eyes widened upon seeing him. "Jellal?"

"You two know each other?" Naruto asked, while also remembering how he and Gaara had destroyed Death Head Caucus around the same time that the Etherion Incident began.

"The last job I ever took from my last guild was to assist him," Ikaruga answered with a frown.

"I hired her team, Trinity Raven, to assist me in dealing with Fairy Tail while I prepared the Tower of Heaven," Jellal explained further. "I don't particularly care why she's here, but she's a trained assassin."

"I am," Ikaruga agreed. "After Death Head Caucus was destroyed, I was unsure what I wanted to do. Recently, I heard of Crime Sorciere and decided that I wanted to join and put my skills to the test against the dark guilds of Fiore."

Naruto now knew why Gaara allowed her to come with him. She was like Gaara was when they met, after all.

"Gaara, since you brought her with you, you need to keep an eye on her. If it even looks like she intends to betray or harm us, you are to kill her," Naruto ordered, looking Ikaruga in the eyes. To her credit, she did not even flinch.

"Thank you for the chance," she said pleasantly with a bow of her head.

"So, how'd it go?" Zancrow asked, breaking the tense moment. "I take it that you kicked Bluenote's ass since you have the airship."

"We killed Bluenote and dropped him out of the sky in front of the Magic Council's Fiore branch," Ultear said, glancing at Naruto at that.

Ikaruga and Meredy looked at them in disbelief, while Gaara looked indifferent and Zancrow actually laughed.

"You guys have stones," Zancrow said once the laughter came to an end. "Man, that explains why the dark guilds were practically pissing themselves when they saw the mark on Gaara's head."

Seeing as how Gaara's guild mark was red and above his eye, it was definitely the easiest one for anyone to see.

"We definitely accomplished our mission with that then," Jellal remarked. "Instilling fear in the dark guilds of Fiore… it is an effective method."

"Outright killing them all would be as well," Ikaruga stated, earning a sigh from Naruto.

"We're not going to resort to killing any dark mages other than the ones that are too strong to let go," Naruto remarked. "That's just how I'd prefer to do things. Plus, I'd rather not make the Magic Council hunt us down even more intently."

"That may not be as big of a problem as you think," Ikaruga said, shaking her head. "You are not caught up on recent news, are you?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked. He noticed that the other members of Crime Sorciere were just as confused as he was.

"The Magic Council just passed the Dark Mage Elimination Arc last week," Ikaruga answered. "If necessary, lethal force can now be employed against any dark mage without repercussions. On the legal side of things, at least."

In unison, every member of Crime Sorciere other than Meredy and Gaara cursed loudly.

Gaara, seeing Ikaruga's confusion, explained the reason behind it quickly. "In Crime Sorciere, there are four former members of Grimoire Heart, a man that betrayed the Magic Council and set things into motion that destroyed it, and now you, a former member of Death Head Caucus. In short, I am the only one in Crime Sorciere that is not being considered a dark mage by the Magic Council. Lethal force will be employed against us the next time we encounter the Rune Knights."

"This makes things annoying," Naruto muttered. Shaking his head, he spoke louder. "Let's just get on the airship and get in the air. We can talk about things later."

With those words, the seven mages boarded the airship and prepared to take-off.

The one good thing about the scenario was that the Magic Council would be unable to confront them at their headquarters without an airship of their own. Even if they did get one, however, they would quickly learn why airships were ineffective against Ultear.

* * *

Author's Note: And there's a wrap to another chapter. Like the last one, it's a little short, but I seem to have lost momentum on the story, so it's getting more difficult to update this quickly. As such, don't be surprised if I don't update this everyday anymore. I'm certainly not simply going to stop updating this though. Don't get that impression, even if I do post something new. I've enjoyed this way too much to do what I've done with stories like Archangel.

Now, I want to make something clear about the scene where Naruto went back to Konoha. I do not dislike Sakura at all, but I didn't want to actually write a new Naruto character into the scene, so I used Sakura, who Naruto mentioned when he saw Meredy in Chapter 2. Part of the reason why Naruto's controntation with the villagers was so short was that I did not want to write OC's or additional Naruto characters in the confrontation. Truthfully, I think it was a good scene, even as short as it was.

Also, I know some of you were looking forward to seeing how Ikaruga or someone else came to join Crime Sorciere, but I just couldn't get the scene right, so I took the lazy way out.

And about the Dark Mage Elimination Act... that's an element that I'm borrowing from a friend of mine by the name of Ghille Dhu. If you haven't read her Naruto/Fairy Tail crossover, I'd recommend doing so. It's a great story.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing. Have a great day.


	18. Plans

**18. Plans**

_-January 1, X785_

"So, where are we to go next?" Ultear asked, looking to Naruto.

They were seated in Crime Sorciere's lounge in the bridge of the airship and were currently flying high above Clover Canyon.

"That's a good question," Naruto admitted. "With Grimoire Heart and Oracion Seis down, not to mention all the minor guilds that our comrades dealt with, we're running out of things to do. I guess the first thing we really need to do is to meet up with Jiraiya. With the Tenrou Island fiasco, I imagine that he's busy helping Fairy Tail. Naturally, that means that we cannot expect him to come to us. Instead, one of us will have to go to him."

Everyone in the room looked at Naruto like he was an idiot.

"I'm wanted for treason," Ultear pointed out.

"Same here," Jellal remarked. "The same crime is likely awaiting you."

"I'm a known assassin," Ikaruga stated.

"The Council knows who I am," Zancrow said with a shrug.

"It is obvious who I am," Gaara commented.

"The Council had a spy on Tenrou Island that could teleport. He would know who I am," Meredy pointed out.

"Duly noted," Naruto said, shaking his head. "Fortunately, I never suggested walking into Magnolia in the middle of the day. This is something I can easily do at night by myself. Or, I could visit Fairy Tail's medical advisor. She lives in the East Forest and could pass a message, though I hear that she hates humans."

No one said anything about the idea, leaving Naruto unsure as to what they thought about it.

Once he could see that they were not going to say anything, he said, "I believe it would be in our best interests to slow down regardless. At first, we weren't really seen as a threat, despite our deeds. With Just me and Gaara, we were just a couple of rogues. Then when Jellal was added, people started seeing us as more dangerous. Add three members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory and an assassin from Death's Head Caucus, and we're bound to attract enemies. I wouldn't be surprised if the Garou Knights were sent after us before too long. The Rune Knights will definitely be after us too. There are plenty of others that we just don't know about. Raven Tail, Tartaros, and countless other dark guilds and dark mages could come after us. Our only choice is to leave plenty of time for training."

"Training?" Ikaruga asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Each one of us should train, whether it's to hone our pre-existing skills or to learn new ones. In a life or death situation, you'll be glad you did so. You should be very familiar with that concept. Did you not lose recently to Erza Scarlet?"

Ikaruga grew flustered immediately, earning Zancrow's laughter.

"And Zancrow, can you do any magic other than Flame God Slayer Magic? It wouldn't be a bad idea to start learning regular Fire Magic, or something completely unrelated. One of the reasons I was able to escape from the Rune Knights with Jellal and Gaara was because they had no idea that Gaara and I were God Slayers," Naruto added. It had helped out a great deal in the aftermath of the Nirvana Incident. "If the Council is unaware of your skills with God Slayer Magic, you would definitely have an advantage later on."

"Fine," Zancrow grumbled.

"So we keep doing what we're doing and spend time training," Gaara summarized. "Perhaps we should make our way to Magnolia then. It would appear that you need to stop by Fairy Tail."

"Not alone though," Ultear remarked.

"You can come with me," Naruto said, nodding his head. If anyone was going to go with him, it needed to be her. She was just about as strong as Jellal was and had been on the island, so Jiraiya would no doubt wish to speak with her. Plus, he liked the idea of spending time with her.

"Good," Ultear said, looking very surprised. She clearly had not been expecting that.

"The rest of you should start thinking about what you want to learn while Ultear and I go to Magnolia. We still have Grimoire Heart's library, so we definitely have enough books on magic to give us a good selection," Naruto said as he rose to his feet.

"You should think about learning something different as well. You mainly rely on wind-based magic. It can get predictable," Ultear remarked, earning a reluctant nod from Naruto.

He chose not to mention that most mages tended to be rely solely on a single area of magic. He did not have to think hard to remember that she possessed talent in Arc of Time _and _Ice-Make.

"Not a problem," he said with a shrug.

* * *

Just after nightfall, Naruto and Ultear were making their way to the eastern gate of Magnolia. They had rappelled from the airship and into the forest since they lacked a good place to land. Now, with Transformation Magic employed to conceal their true identities, they were ready to pay a visit to Fairy Tail.

Personally, Naruto was hoping that he was correct in that Jiraiya would be there. If not, they were simply wasting time.

"Don't reveal who you are until we're alone with Jiraiya," Naruto said, glancing at Ultear. He did not care if the Council learned that he had welcomed three members of Grimoire Heart into Crime Sorciere. What he did care about, however, was what Fairy Tail would do if they learned that she was a former member of the guild that attacked Tenrou Island the day before it was destroyed by Acnologia.

"Obviously," she retorted dryly, shaking her head. "I'm not an idiot."

"I never said you were," Naruto sighed. "You're one of the smartest people that I know. That does not mean that I should go without saying it though. It's better to be cautious than dead. It's only been a couple weeks since they lost quite a few comrades."

Ultear nodded her head in agreement, a mournful look coming into her eyes.

"I wonder where they will reappear," Naruto continued thoughtfully. "I believe Jellal's claim that Erza is not dead."

"It's possible," Ultear conceded, though she still looked doubtful. "There are spells that would have saved them, but as far as I know, none of the mages on the island knew the spells."

"Let's leave that subject for later," Naruto said, shaking his head. He had no wish to think about the possibility of Wendy dying. Actually, he did not like the idea of Erza or Natsu dying either, even if he was not that close to them.

"Agreed," Ultear replied in a relieved tone.

In silence, the pair approached the Fairy Tail guild hall.

Just before they reached it, Jiraiya stepped through the front doors, his eyes focused on Naruto.

"This is a little risky, even for you," Jiraiya commented. "Come inside. I'm the only one here at the moment. It should be safe enough to talk in there for now."

Nodding, Naruto followed after Jiraiya with Ultear right behind him.

Once they were all inside the guild hall and saw that Jiraiya had told the truth, Naruto and Ultear dispelled their Transformation Magic.

"Ultear Milkovich… you're the last person I expected to see with Naruto," Jiraiya remarked, staring intently at the former leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. It was the most serious that Naruto could ever recall him looking. "When Naruto told me that he recruited three of his former comrades, I worried that he was making a bad decision. I hope you prove me wrong."

"She's sincere, and so are Meredy and Zancrow," Naruto interrupted before Ultear could respond. "Ikaruga, on the other hand… I trust her about as far as Meredy can throw her. She was an assassin of Death's Head Caucus up until recently, but I trust Gaara to watch her for me."

"Be careful," Jiraiya warned with a frown. "When you play with fire, you are destined to get burned. With the Dark Mage Elimination Act in play, even if everyone within your group is trustworthy, things will be very dangerous for you."

"I'm not too worried," Naruto said with a shrug. "If someone does try to betray us, it will be discovered quickly. And no one is going to get the jump on us. We renovated Grimoire Heart's airship, so we now have a mobile base with a Jupiter cannon."

"I wonder how long you have before the Council learns of the airship," Jiraiya mused. He quickly shook his head, breaking away from those thoughts. "But that is a matter we should discuss later on. If you don't mind, I would like to hear about everything that has happened since the Nirvana Incident. Perhaps hearing everything will help me understand what is going on better. Afterwards, I'll listen to your requests. Knowing you, this meeting is happening because you need something."

Naruto just nodded, not even bothered by the insinuation. It was true, after all.

* * *

"Well, that was informative," Jiraiya remarked as he finished listening to the story. "I don't know what to be more surprised about. Purehito's role as Hades and Zeref's appearance are very alarming. My old teammate suspected that Zeref was immortal, but I had never believed it to be the truth. When you have power over life and death, I suppose that it's not much of a stretch though."

"Jellal is adamant that Erza survived. He says that he has a connection to her and would know if she died," Naruto said, trying not to think about the concept of Zeref walking around.

"I'm serving as an interim leader of Fairy Tail at the moment, but it will only last until we finish searching the waters around Tenrou Island. I will personally assist in the search starting tomorrow, so I will be out of contact for a while. With that all said and done, I suspect that I know how the Tenrou Team could have survived Acnologia's blast. I will keep it to myself until they reappear though. There's a difference between keeping hope alive and giving something for people to cling onto foolishly."

"If you're going to be gone for a while, I guess you can't exactly provide us with information on where dark guilds are located, can you?" Naruto asked with a grimace.

"I know where a dozen are at the most, but I do not believe I can help you anymore for another six months. As unfortunate as it is, that's just how it goes," Jiraiya confirmed. "In the meantime, you should prepare for anything. I get the feeling that trouble awaits you."

"We can do that," Naruto said, glancing to Ultear.

Jiraiya quickly went to a backroom for a few moments, returning shortly thereafter with a scroll. "This contains the information that I have. I hope you find it helpful."

"It'll work," Naruto said, taking the scroll and putting it away without opening it. "Good luck in your search. If you find out anything, you can contact our Communication Lacrima. I would have used it to talk to you this time, but I thought it would be best to talk in person."

Jiraiya nodded solemnly in agreement. "I'll contact you if I hear anything. After I'm done, I may have to see your airship. I'm definitely not going to stick around after the search is over, even if we don't find anything. I'm not the guild master type, after all."

"Those are big shoes to fill," Naruto remarked, thinking about Makarov's reputation. With Makarov, Gildarts, Erza, Mirajane, Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Juvia, and the Thunder Legion gone, the guild would definitely lose their title as _Strongest Guild in Fiore_. It did not help matters that Mystogan disappeared a month ago and Laxus had shown up on the island during the ordeal with Grimoire Heart.

"Purehito and Makarov both had to deal with that issue, or so I'm told. Mavis and Purehito were excellent guild masters in their time, even if Purehito eventually became Hades," Jiraiya stated. "Whoever is to replace Makarov will simply have to face the challenges of the position. But I'm sure you are not trying to idly discuss the matter of guild master. Is something bothering you?"

Naruto looked down at the ground. There was something on his mind, actually. He had left out the reason that he had killed Bluenote earlier when he told Jiraiya what they had been up to.

Sighing heavily, Naruto just shook his head. That was a matter that could wait.

"Let's just go."

And with that, Naruto and Ultear reapplied their transformations and left a confused Jiraiya alone in the guild hall.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, that took a while. I really hate that I said I wouldn't stop updating but then went five months without updating. Oh well. At least I finally updated. Updating after going months without updating a story is unheard of for me. I know it was a short chapter, but I have my reasons. I'll only give the main reason. My plans have changed a little since I started writing it, so this is actually where a time-skip begins.

Anyways, I won't be updating like I used to be. I don't plan on going so long without updating, but I hope to update regularly (provided we go by the average fanfiction author's definition of regularly). I need to work on my chapter lengths again. Writing original fiction is very different. Here, people typically want 5k-10k word long chapters. In original fiction, 5k is considered to be very long.

Now, I think I should go ahead and say this clearly. Don't tell me to update. Asking me is one thing, but if you actually tell me to update, I'm more likely to put it off. I'm hard-headed and don't like taking orders. Also, I would appreciate it if people did not review a certain story, only to ask about a completely different story. If you do it, I will ignore your review. Anyone can send me a PM.

Well, that's about all I have to say. Thanks for reading; have a nice day.


	19. Author's Note!

This is not an update. I always hate having to write one of these, but it's been way too long since I updated this, so I felt that I needed to address this.

Through the Darkness is being put on hiatus. I was actually intending on waiting until after the Grand Magical Games arc to update, but then something happened that made me lose all inspiration I had for this. I'll gain it back over time, but it's hard to go forward and write a Naruto/Ultear story after what happened to her. That's how it is for me, at least.

I'm sorry to everyone that is disappointed by this news, but I can't help it. If I continued now, it would be like Second Chance and Consequences, and I do not want to do that. It would not be fair to anyone for me to do that. I would sooner post a summarization of what I had planned.

Since I'm making an announcement here, I'd like to address one other matter. I'm pretty bad about posting a story, writing a few chapters, and stopping. I'm also pretty bad at ending a story ahead of time and saying that I'll do a sequel, yet I never do it. In light of that, I've made a decision. If you go to my profile, you will see that I have gone ahead and deleted a number of my fanfics from my profile. They are the stories I realized would never be touched again, so they have been removed. I may post them over on my other account at a later date, or I might not. Surprisingly, Kitsune of Fairy Tail was not one of them though. I'm actually still trying to figure out what to do with that one, so it's not in the same category.

Anyways, I just wanted to keep everyone informed. Thanks for reading.


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